Deception
by D-E-V-L-41
Summary: AU: Two pirates are brought together with one goal: to seek the treasure. Each clue brings them closer to the treasure and each other. Full Summary Inside. InuKag
1. Adversaries

Thanks to the inspiration of the DaVinci Code, National Treasure, and Puzzle Pirates; Lilypad05 and I have decided to write a story out of the original. Not your normal modern time. This one is based on pirates and finding "The Treasure".

Full Summary: After the death of Kagome's grandfather, Kagome was left with a note. The note was a riddle on how to find the treasure. Kagome took her grandfather's spot as captain of Rolling Thunder. Inuyasha, on the other hand, was the captain of Angels nor Demons, he also had a clue about the treasure, but not the actual note. Kagome and Inuyasha try to get the clues before each other and each clue leads them closer and closer to the prize, and each other.

Disclaimer: We do not own Inuyasha.

Enjoy!

- $ -

**Adversaries**

_Noun - a person or group that opposes or attacks another; opponent; enemy; foe _

- $ -

"Grandpa! Grandpa! What's happening?" An eight year old Kagome cried as she was being shoved into the lower deck.

"Now, Kagome," he panted. His face was marked with wrinkles. Sweat dropped down his forehead; he was shaking as he held Kagome's hands. "Listen to me, whatever you see or hear, don't come out until I come and get you."

Kagome nodded her head obediently as her grandpa shut the door on her. She was now stuck in a small room on the lowest part of the ship. Above, she could hear cannon shots, the clashing of swords, and the yelling of men.

Shaken and scared, she huddled herself in the corner. The ship shook with every blow. Kagome remembered every single battle that she had been through with her grandpa as the captain of Rolling Thunder, and every one seemed like the first.

All of the sudden, the ship tilted to the left; Kagome slid across the wooden floor under a table. Too scared to move, she stayed under the table for what seemed like hours. This was an unusual battle. Kagome was beginning to worry about her grandpa. He had reassured her many times that they were one of the strongest crews, but then why was this battle longer than usual? Who were they fighting? What was going on?

The noise began to cease, Kagome got the nerves to stand up and walk towards the door. She slowly unlocked the latch and climbed up to the dock. Kagome gasped, it was chaotic. There was blood all over the place with men wounded on the floor. She had never seen such a ghastly sight.

"Kagome…Kagome…" She heard her name faintly and turned around to see who could be calling her. On the far side of the ship, she saw her grandpa lying on the floor. He was wounded and blood stained across his chest.

Kagome screamed and ran towards him, "Grandpa! What's wrong?" She kneeled beside him, holding his hand; it was ice cold. Tears trickled down her face as her grandpa tried to catch his breath.

He took her hand and put it on his pocket, Kagome felt something underneath it. She slowly took it out; it was a tiny corner piece of paper, ripped out roughly from a parchment.

Her grandpa took in a huge breath and said faintly, "Our family's secret…a treasure…find it…find…it…"

"But Grandpa…" Drops of tears fell down her face, "I don't understand…"

Her grandpa let go of her hand, and it fell limply onto the deck.

Kagome screamed; her vision was now drowned with tears. She took the piece of paper and shoved it down her pocket. Kagome ran with all her might to the front of the ship and screamed out.

"Why! Why! You murderers! One day I'll destroy you all!"

She saw the enemy's flag waving with the wind. That flag she would remember for the rest of her life.

- $ -

That was ten years ago. Kagome was now the captain of her grandpa's ship, Rolling Thunder. Dawn just broke and she was about to get ready for the new day.

She changed out of her sleeping gown and pulled on an elegant white blouse with a dark red sash and some lose black pants. She tied back her raven black hair to the side into a lose ponytail. With no thought at all, she took out a red bandana and tied it neatly on her head into a headband. She then sat down at the end of her bed and slipped on her boots. Kagome stood up, she looked into the mirror. Her tall and slim figure, her deep, fierce eyes reflected back upon her.

She unfolded the piece of parchment that was left by her grandpa. It read:

"All the seas you shall defeat,

Never look too far,

The answer lies beyond…"

56 - 15 AD

She read these three lines every single day after her grandpa passed away. Yet, she had never figured out what it meant. How do you defeat seas but never look too far? The clue seemed to state that it was quite simple, when the riddle was so hard. And the thing most puzzling about it was that 56 – 15 AD just didn't make sense. AD was a date, so why was the 56 before 15? If you take away the hyphen, didn't it mean the year 5615? That couldn't be right, because it was now the 17th century.

"Captain, we are two days from Terra Island." Sango said as the door opened. She was head of the crew, right under Kagome. They have been friends for a few years now.

Kagome gasped and shoved the paper into her pocket. "Thank you Sango, but we should sail faster, get everyone on sails."

The clear blue waters were just waiting for Kagome. She took a breath of the fresh, crisp air and yelled, "To Terra Island!"

- $ -

Inuyasha yawned and sat lazily as the sun rose. His parents had left him nothing, absolutely nothing, except one sentence before they had passed away. "Seek the treasure." What the hell was 'seek the treasure' supposed to mean? What treasure? Where was it? Why hadn't they left with a different clue or phrase? He didn't even know where to begin.

Inuyasha had been sailing the ocean around a year now, as captain. His crew, Angels nor Demons, were strong and one of the toughest sailing the seas. He got up and walked to the navigation table.

"How far are we away from Terra Island?" He asked Miroku.

"Oh, just a few days," Miroku responded, "Then _I'll_ actually be able to get some rest."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "Whatever, whatever, keep up the work."

"Yeah, yeah, Inuyasha."

"That's _captain_ to you."

Miroku shrugged indifferently and went back to his duty. Inuyasha headed to the main deck. "Everyone get to work. We want to get to Terra quick. No reason. I want ¾ of you on sails, and the rest clean and fix up this ship, not that it's in bad condition or anything." He smirked, "Shippo, go fill the cannons in case I feel like attacking."

"Yes sir."

"That's _captain_ to you."

"Yes, _captain_," he said mockingly and got to work.

Inuyasha ignored the last comment and climbed up to the crow's nest. It was such a nice day, with the blue skies, clear waters, and…a ship!

"Get ready for an attack!" He screamed below. Angels nor Demons would succeed once again.

- $ -

Kagome was trying to get to Terra Island as fast as possible; she had her crews all on sails. They were running low on supplies and needed to restock.

"Captain! Ship ahead!" Sango bellowed from the crow's nest.

"We'll sail pass them; let's not look for trouble right now!" Kagome called to Sango.

"From what I'm seeing, they're sailing right towards us!"

"Damn…" Kagome ran around the deck, preparing her crew to defend.

All of the sudden, a cannon was shot from the other ship and just missed Rolling Thunder. The impact was a huge wave of water that sprayed onto the deck and rocked the boat back and forth.

"Six of you on cannons now!"

Sango had climbed down to help with this attack. "Kagome, we only have 7 cannonballs left!"

"Don't shoot them until I tell you!"

"Yes ma'am."

Kagome raced to the navigating wheel. By now the other ship was getting closer and closer. If she wanted to win, she had to do it strategically. She couldn't fight head on.

At that moment, another cannon was shot. Kagome, with her quick reflexes, steered the ship to the right. It was the biggest ship she had ever fought or maybe even seen, almost twice as big as her ship. She wondered what crew it was.

Kagome looked up towards the flag. Could it be? The flag was two black and red saber swords, crossing one another. This was Ghost of the Seven Seas, the most legendary ship in the ocean! And this was the ship that killed her grandpa.

Kagome was now not only fighting for her ship, but also for revenge. She quickly came up with a plan.

Kagome dodged all the blows as they got closer and closer. Now they were so close that she could see every single crew member on the opposing side. She was no longer able to dodge the blows.

"One, two, and three, fire your cannons!" She screamed.

Cannons one, two, and three were all shot instantly and each one hit a different section of the boat. All of the sudden, because she was too busy giving out directions, a cannon hit the midsection of her ship.

Their ships were now parallel with each other, one facing north and one facing south. Kagome immediately steered her ship around the back of Ghost of the Seven Seas. She did this movement so fast that she was parallel with the other ship again, but this time facing the same direction.

"Four, five, and six. Shoot!"

Two out of the three cannons hit the ship. Kagome smirked to herself. For her grandpa and for her crew, this was it!

"Throw the ropes!"

Rolling Thunder had grappled Ghost of the Seven Seas.

"Attack!" Each and every one of them screamed, took out their swords, and swung to the other ship.

Hoping that all her training with her crew would pay off, she swung over.

Immediately, she was attacked by three pirates. Her men were outnumbered by about two to one, but she believed in them.

Kagome blocked the first pirate's attack and countered it by stabbing him right in the stomach. She dodged the second one and swiped at his neck, he fell to the ground. She winced every time. It was horrible to see or do this, but she was a pirate and it was necessary and that was just what pirates do. The third one, seeing what happened to his friends, fled.

Kagome turned and looked for the captain of the ship. Her crew had defeated many of the pirates on the deck and they didn't need her help. She turned to go to the upper deck and saw a pirate with black hair and a feathered hat take down one of her crew members. He was wearing a black jacket embroidered in red. She ran up the stairs, dodging all the blows along the way.

"Are you the captain?" She challenged.

The pirate turned around to face her and looked straight into her eyes. The stare gave chills down her spine.

"Yes, I'm the captain and I'm guessing you are too?"

Kagome didn't respond and charged right towards him. He took out his sword and blocked her first attack with one simple stroke. He countered by trying to stab her in the chest. Thought she was that weak? She dodged the blow and slid across the floor, to his other side. Now he was going to get it. Before he had time to turn around, she sliced her sword across his legs.

Blood gushed out from his calves, he fell onto the deck. "Good shot, but not good enough." He swung around, and caught his sword at her throat. Naraku slowly stood up.

Kagome froze, this was it.

"Surrender or die."

Kagome took in a deep breath and slowly lifted her hands, ready to surrender.

"So I see you really _are_ weak, you'd rather surrender than die with honor and glory?"

She had thought about not surrendering, but she wanted to fulfill her grandpa's wishes.

"Naraku! Our ship is sinking!" A voice echoed across the ship.

Naraku turned for only a split second. Kagome took the chance and used her sword to deflect his sword out of his hand and into the sea.

Naraku, shocked at what had happened, found _her_ sword at _his_ throat.

"Surrender or die." She said emotionlessly.

Now it was Naraku's turn to lift up his hands and surrender.

"Now look at who's the weak one, what about honor and glory?" She asked mockingly, "Now tell your crew to stop the fighting."

He turned towards the lower deck and yelled, "Everyone, stop now! Drop your swords!"

Swords clashed onto the deck. Kagome's crew cheered triumphantly, they had beaten the toughest crew in the ocean, thanks to Kagome.

"Everyone! Take whatever you want or need! You guys did great!" She yelled, not taking her eyes off Naraku.

Sango rushed up to the deck to thank Kagome for the wonderful battle navigation.

"Thanks Sango, now can you watch Naraku for me while I look for some things?"

"Sure, no problem," Sango pulled out her sword and took Kagome's spot.

Kagome wandered down to the lowest deck, where Naraku's room was. There probably was something important and valuable in there. They were not the strongest crew for nothing.

In the corner, there was a big door with 'Naraku' carved into it.

"Wow, talk about headstrong."

She opened the door and walked inside. She noticed right away the biggest chest she had ever seen in her life. It was a golden chest with the inscription of:

Ghost of the Seven Seas – Since 1556.

"Wait a minute," Kagome recited to herself:

"All the seas you shall defeat,

Never look too far,

The answer lies beyond…"

56 - 15 AD

- $ -

And that's it for now…once again, it's a cliffhanger, aren't those just fun? 

Was that a good beginning? Give me and Lilypad05 an opinion, because first chapters are important. Thanks!


	2. Beginning

Man, only eight reviews, how depressing? Oh well, maybe some people will start actually reading this story, haha.

Anyways, thanks to all those reviews and hope you enjoy this chapter!

- $ -

**Beginning**

_Noun - an act or circumstance of entering upon an action or state_

- $ -

"Damn, I was going to attack that ship too," the twenty year old captain of Angels nor Demons said as he watched the two ships engage in the most aggressive battle he had ever seen. He put his hands inside his swashbuckler's jacket. The jacket was brown and dropped down below his waist. It had brass buttons that went all the way down with a black sash tied right at his midsection.

He saw the two captains shoot cannons at each other. They were really strong crews, he knew that, for they were famous, as well as his.

The battle was going to be interesting.

"Everyone, stop what you're doing. We're staying right here!" He yelled at his crew and laid back to watch the show.

His crew members were all gathered at the very top, watching Ghost of the Seven Seas against Rolling Thunder.

Inuyasha leaned forward on his seat, as Rolling Thunder invaded the other ship. He watched intently as Kagome and Naraku sword fought.

"Oh my god, is that a girl? No way!" He watched as she slid across the deck, to Naraku's other side, "Man, she has some talent! But I don't think her skills can match up to Naraku's."

Naraku wrapped his sword around Kagome's neck. "Too bad, she's done for." But that didn't happen.

"Oh, good move." He watched Kagome slide to Naraku's other side and deflect his sword into the sea.

"I could learn some things from this girl. She's fast and tricky."

At this point Naraku's crew dropped their swords in surrender. "They beat the Ghost of the Seven Seas," Inuyasha said in disbelief.

He sat back and started pondering the situation. He said to himself, "Well, the strongest ship, Ghost of the Seven Seas, is down. So now, only my crew and Rolling Thunder are left. If I beat Rolling Thunder then we'll be the top crew. That's it! I'll attack them!"

- $ -

Kagome stared incredulity at the chest. Had she finally found it after all these years of searching? Had it been right in front of her this whole time and she hadn't noticed?

"All the seas you shall defeat

Never look too far

The answer lies beyond…

56-15 A.D."

"The first line showed the crew we just defeated. All the seas you shall defeat," she recited to herself. "Ghost of the Seven Seas, I can't believe it. All the seas: Viridian, Ice, Sage, Cobalt, Midnight, Polaris, and Whistler Sea. There are seven seas, which refers to all the seas that Ghost of the Seven Seas have conquered. So, therefore, if we defeat Ghost of the Seven Seas, we have defeated all of the seas." Kagome blinked. "Never look too far/ The answer lies beyond. What was that supposed to mean? 56-15, 1556 was the date that the Ghost of the Seven Seas was found. Yet, why would this poem switch the numbers around?"

The chest had many scratches on it. She could tell that someone had been trying to open it. Kagome then gasped when she noticed on one side of the chest was a combination lock. The lock was rusted and long with four spots where numbers could be matched.

Suddenly, the door swung open. Before Kagome could react, she felt a blade cut down her arm. Kagome quickly dodged with her quick reactions, she took her dagger with her left hand from her right side and swung around and cut the enemy right across the neck.

It was Naraku. He clenched his neck in pain and fell onto his knees. Blood gushed out of his neck. He was going to bleed to death.

Kagome let go of her dagger. She didn't mean to kill him. "What have I done?"

Sango ran in at this moment. "Kagome, he got away, he…" Her gaze dropped down to the floor. "Well, I guess you already took care of him."

Naraku lay motionlessly on the ground. Kagome wanted to get out of the room and the ship itself. "Sango, I want you to help me carry this chest back to our ship and you can tell everyone else to take whatever they want."

"Oh my god, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's get out of here."

"What are we going to with this ship since the captain is dead now?"

"We're going to burn the ship." She had finally avenged her grandfather. She felt a little relieved.

"What about the pirates?"

"We'll take anyone who wants to join our crew, and the ones that don't want to, they could just burn with their ship." Kagome felt it was out of her reach to help some of these pirates. They had killed her grandfather just a few years back after all.

Sango carried the chest back up to the deck and back to their ship, since Kagome was now injured.

"Go tell them to burn down the ship and get everyone that wants to join us on board." Kagome headed down to her room to the chest, where Sango had placed it. When she got there, she ripped off her sleeve to see and treat the cut. The cut was not too deep. The blood, however, was still dripping from it. Kagome winced at the sight.

She wrapped it up with the sleeve that she had just ripped off to stop the bleeding. When she would get to the island, she would be able to further treat her wound.

Turning her attention to the chest, she said, "Okay, so how should I open you? Let's see, four digits." Then it hit her. "This is too easy. It can't be that, could it?" Kagome got down to one knee and started to move the digits into spot. "56-15, that has to be it." She aligned them and the chest opened with ease.

The chest was filled to the brim with bronze coins and some even fell to the ground. Kagome wondered at the sight. "Is this it?" She filled her hands with the bronze, "the treasure that my grandpa was seeking is some bronze coins?" She dropped the coins from her hand, "No, this can't be it, what about the two lines in the middle? Never look too far/ The answer lies beyond."

In distress, Kagome climbed up to the deck for fresh air and watched as Ghost of the Seven Seas burned down. When she got there, the ship had almost completely sunk. All that was left now was their flag. It waved gently in the breeze.

"Can it be?" The flag was right in front of her. It was two sabers crossing each other, making an X. "Never look too far/ The answer lies beyond. It must be the flag! This flag! Pirates can tell other ships by their flags, so that's why I should never look too far. The answer was right in front of me all this time." At Kagome's last sentence, the flag sunk into the sea. This was the end of Ghost of the Seven Seas.

- $ -

"I can't believe it; Ghost of the Seven Seas was defeated." Inuyasha stood up in shock as the ship disappeared from his view.

"Crew!" He yelled as he climbed down to the deck, "I've got an excellent plan, ready to hear it?"

His crew stared at him, what was he up to this time?

"We're going to attack Rolling Thunder!"

"What?" Some of his crew members yelled, "They're still weak from this battle."

"Exactly," he snickered.

Kagome had finally gotten the clues to the poem. Now the only problem was fitting all the pieces together.

"Okay, we're porting!" She yelled at her crew.

Kagome walked down to her room, where the chest lay wide open. She kneeled down so she was eye level with the box. Kagome dug through the treasure chest, feeling and touching all the bronze coins, and then she hit something cold and different. She pulled it out and in her hand was a bottle with a parchment inside and liquid filled to the top. She tried to take off the cork, but couldn't; it was stuck. Then, with all her strength, she removed the cork from the bottle, almost spilling the liquid inside. Kagome took the parchment out of the liquid and opened it. To her surprise, the letters were not smeared.

She put the cork back on tight and slipped the vial into her pocket. Now she turned her attention to the parchment. It was a map.

The map showed an island, it was really detailed; it had shops, roads, and houses. There was a big 'X' on the map, marking a shack. An arrow pointed at the 'X', the end of the arrow led to the top right corner of the parchment, there showed a single saber.

Kagome smiled at herself, "This must lead to the treasure."

Sango called from above, "Captain, we're being attacked!"

"What! Are you kidding me? How many ships can attack us in one day?" She closed the chest, folded the piece of parchment, and shoved it in her pocket.

When Kagome ran to the steering wheel, "Damn, it's Angels nor Demons. No way." She hoped it had been a weaker crew, but this was going to be hard.

"How many cannons do we have!" She yelled to the deck.

"Only one!" Sango yelled back at her.

"How are we going to win with one cannon! We barely won when we had seven! Why didn't you guys take any from Ghost of the Seven Seas!" She scolded at her crew.

"We didn't think that far. We were planning to port!" Sango screamed as she prepared the crew for battle.

Kagome rolled her eyes at her crew. "This is going to be a hard battle to win." She was so close to the next clue, she just had to win.

"Okay everyone, I need you to try your best and whatever the outcome may be," She was interrupted mid-sentence when a small cannon hit her ship.

Kagome steered the ship with her left hand straight forward for a straight on attack. Since she only had one cannon left, why not make it a sword fighting battle. Now she would have to fight with her left hand. "This isn't going to be pretty."

Another cannon blasted and hit her ship harder than the first. After a few moments the two ships hit head to head. The impact of the blow sent the two ships side to side.

"Let's make this quick. Fight your best. Charge!"

Her crew didn't even have to swing over to get on to the other ship because the ships so close that they were touching each other. There was a clanking and clashing of swords almost instantly.

Kagome took out her sword and flinched in pain. She had forgotten that her arm was injured. She quickly shifted the sword to her left hand. It felt awkward and heavier. She practiced a few swings before jumping on the opposing ship.

- $ -

Inuyasha was very satisfied, but was surprised that Rolling Thunder hadn't shot a single cannon and just went right towards them, taking the many blows. "Well, their loss. We're going to beat them easier this way."

All of the sudden he spotted the same girl that fought with Naraku earlier; she must be the captain. He grabbed his sword and walked slowly with a smirk on his face towards the girl.

The girl had her back turned to him. "Perfect," he whispered to himself. He stabbed his sword into her side, but missed. Kagome had swung around and deflected the blow. Inuyasha tried as hard as he could to push Kagome's sword into her side because it was blocking his attack.

Kagome clenched her sword as hard as she could, but could tell it was getting closer and closer to her stomach. She thought fast and withdrew her sword and dodged to the side.

Inuyasha almost fell forward from the quick withdraw. "What's your name girl?" he asked as he charged towards her once more.

"It's Kagome," she said as she defended herself. "What's yours?"

He sneered, "Inuyasha." He then changed his attack direction and sliced his sword into her right arm. He had noticed that it was wounded. The cloth dropped from her arm and it started to bleed even more.

Inuyasha took this chance to knock her sword out of her hand. Kagome hadn't been gripping it tightly and flew into the air and Inuyasha caught it. "You lose," as he took his sword and placed it on her neck.

- $ -

I hope we explained the clues right, if not, leave a review and we'll try to explain them to you in a better way.


	3. Captives

Alright, here's another chapter of Deception, hope you all enjoy it!

Thanks for the wonderful reviews!

- $ -

**Captives**

_Noun - One, such as a prisoner of war, who is forcibly confined, subjugated, or enslaved; One held in the grip of a strong emotion or passion_

- $ -

"I failed," Kagome whispered to herself and dropped down to her knees. Her arm was dripping blood down to the deck. She was going to die. "Go ahead, just kill me."

Inuyasha froze. It wasn't a fair battle, her arm was wounded and they had just beaten another ship. It just wasn't an honorable win. He thought about the situation for a moment, and then came up with a conclusion. "How about this, I'll make you a deal."

Kagome stared.

"If you give me all your booty and crew members, all I will do is sink your ship and I'll spare your life."

Her ship meant everything to her; it held the most unforgettable memories. And, it was her last connection to her grandpa. She didn't want to let her grandpa down, she was only eighteen.

"So?" Inuyasha was getting impatient.

Kagome slowly stood up; she only had one chance left. "Look," she started, "why don't you just take me and all our booty, but please, spare my ship and crew."

"What will your crew do without you?" He raised an eyebrow.

"They're close to port, just let them port and they can find jobs on the island." Kagome sighed.

Well, she was a strong swordsman and very strategic. She could come in handy at times of need. "Come here you, you're now part of this crew. Go tell your crew what is going to happen."

Kagome walked into the middle of the ship and called for her crew. They gathered in a circle and Kagome told them what was going to happen. Rolling Thunder was heartbroken; she had sacrificed herself for their sake.

Sango ran into the middle of the circle, she was in tears. She faced the captain and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Kagome, are you sure? I'll come with you...I'll…"

"No Sango, no one will come with me. You guys will move on and find jobs and have families and a life."

"Kagome, listen to me! Please…" She sobbed.

- $ -

Miroku and Inuyasha stood on the upper deck, watching the drama below unfold. It seemed kind of strange for Rolling Thunder to end this way.

Miroku was Inuyasha's best crew mate, they had grown up together. He had messy black hair that was tied into a small, low ponytail. He wore casual clothes that would blend in with the rest of the crew. Miroku whispered into Inuyasha's ear.

"Good idea, Miroku!" He smirked.

- $ -

Kagome and Sango's argument was cut by the sound of Miroku's voice.

"Ladies, ladies, no need to cry." He cut into the middle of the circle.

Sango stood up and wiped the tears away from her face, then said weakly, "Who are you?"

"Ah, so I haven't introduced myself yet. I am Miroku, the greatest navigator of the sea, the best friend of the best captain of the sea. The best crew mate, and I could be the best husband." He scooted closer to Sango, taking her hand. Tears stained her face, yet her beauty still glowed. Her hair was long and was placed in a high ponytail. The clothes that she wore were now in disarray covered in blood.

Sango snapped his hand away, "Listen, I don't know what you want, but I don't want it."

"So you _don't_ want to join our crew?" He grinned.

"Wait, wait, yes I do, please…let me join your…"

Kagome cut in between Sango and Miroku, "No, don't let her, she's not joining!"

Sango pushed her aside, "Yes, yes, I will join!"

Kagome turned to Miroku and sneered right in front of his face, "You are not letting her join!"

"Oh yes she is, I've decided."

"No, I have." Finally, the captain of Angels nor Demons entered the circle.

"I don't understand, why do you want Sango to join?" Kagome asked Inuyasha sternly.

"Well, my friend Miroku here seems to have fallen in love with this girl." He said and then walked away. Inuyasha called to his crew members to take all of Rolling Thunder's booty.

He then turned back to Kagome, "You're coming with me." He grabbed her right arm, Kagome jumped from the pain, the blood had not stopped bleeding. "Oh, sorry," he said sarcastically, then grabbed her other arm and started dragging her to the lowest part of the ship.

On the way, he explained the rules to her, "You are going to sleep in the cells, during the days, however, you will work. If I find that you are not working, there will be consequences. You get two meals a day and you won't get any other clothing. Got it?" At the last phrase, they were there. He threw her into a cell and slammed the bar door, locking it with a key. Inuyasha then walked away.

The cell was just big enough for her to completely stretch out. It was covered with dust, dirt, rusted metal, molded wood, and some insects. There were rats crawling around from cell to cell. Right now, she was the only one there.

A couple of minutes later, she heard Sango and Miroku climb down the steps.

"Now Sango dear, you will rest here." He led her to her cell, "I will make sure you get all your meals." He opened the door. "I'll visit you every day, every hour, every second…" Sango went into the cell and slammed the door herself. "Miroku, you are done. Get out of here." Miroku looked hurt. He locked the door and retreated back up.

Sango sighed; Kagome's cell was right across from hers. She could see Kagome's face perfectly, and right now, she looked emotionless. Sango wanted to make her feel better, "Well, our crew has gone away fine, they should be in porting right now."

There was no response.

"Is everything okay?"

Kagome sat up straight, "Sango, you are such an idiot. Why did you have to volunteer to come here with me? I could've been fine on my own! I didn't need your help. They're going to work us to death, did you know that? If you think this is about honor, well, it isn't. Look again, we're in a cell! We're slaves! It reeks, it stinks, and we're going to starve."

Tears were filling Sango's eyes.

"And…I just wanted my crew and ship to be safe." Her voice softened at this last sentence, and it died off.

- $ -

"Wake up! Wake up!" The two captives were woken by the sound of a voice.

Kagome sat up with a jolt and bumped her head against the wall. "Ouch!" She couldn't help but yell.

"Hurry up, it's already 4 am, you two need to scrub the decks from top to bottom, make it spotless by this afternoon." He started unlocking the two girls' cells. "During the afternoon, you will prepare dinner for all the pirates onboard.

After he unlocked it, he walked quickly upstairs and came back down with a bucket of water, soap, and two brushes. "Hurry it up! Get to work!"

- $ -

Kagome set the bucket of water and soap on the deck, only a few crew members were even up. She got down to her hands and knees. She stared down at the floor. Kagome wasn't sure how she was going to be able to do all this. Her arm was badly cut twice and it hurt her to even move it.

Inuyasha was walking towards her; he was checking if everyone was working or not.

"Start working!" he said at her, having forgotten her arm was injured.

Turning her gaze to the wooden deck, she picked up the brush with her left hand. Kagome wasn't going to say anything. Inuyasha had spared her life with a deal and she was going to hold up her end of the deal.

He had walked past Kagome as soon as she had picked up the brush, but then he heard her wince. Glancing back, he saw that she was scrubbing with her left hand. Her right arm lay limp to her side, dried blood covered it.

About to walk on, Inuyasha's conscience stopped him. He could let her scrub the floors this way. It was cruel and she wouldn't get much done anyway.

"Girl," he spoke and she looked up at him. Pain was written across her face. "Give me your right arm."

Suspiciously, Kagome had no choice but to hold out her arm. She did not know what he wanted.

Inuyasha supported it with his hand and examined the wound, "It's not a deep cut, it will heal in no time." He then quickly put his hand in his pocket. When it came out, he had a handkerchief. Inuyasha showed it to Kagome. "Wash the wound, wrap it if you want, and get back to work."

Gently, Kagome took it out of his hand. She looked at him, a small smile formed on her face. "Thank you."

- $ -

After what seemed like hours, Kagome and Sango were finally finished with the top deck. Now, they were at the second floor. Sango decided to work on the left side and Kagome on the right. This way, they would get their task done quicker.

Kagome looked down at her hand. It was now red and wrinkly from the water. She set down her brush and leaned against the wall. There was no one around; she wanted to take a few minutes to catch her breath. She laid her hands on her lap and felt a bottle in her pocket; she had totally forgotten about it!

Kagome took it out, along with the map of an island. "Grandpa, how could you leave me with this, I can't figure it out anymore. I can't find the treasure…" Her voice faded away.

- $ -

Inuyasha woke up from his afternoon nap. He yawned and was just about to open the door when he heard a voice right outside of it.

"Grandpa, how could you leave me with this, I can't figure it out anymore. I can't find the treasure…"

His ears perked up, the treasure? Wasn't that Kagome's voice? Wait a second…could she be talking about the same treasure that he had been seeking for all his life?

Kagome's voice went on, "I passed your first clue:

'All the seas you shall defeat,

Never look too far,

The answer lies beyond…

56 - 15 AD'

I found the second clue, a map and a vial of liquid. But now I can't go on. I'm going to be held here for the rest of my life. What will I do?"

No way, does this girl have the way to the treasure? He silently moved up towards the wall.

She continued, "Your last words: Our family's secret…a treasure…find it…find…it…. But I can't find it, I failed you." Her voice was beginning to be drowned by tears.

Inuyasha now realized that Kagome possessed the clue to the treasure that he had been looking for. He decided to step out of his room and steal the clue. The map must be with her, he could hear the crunching of paper.

Inuyasha quickly opened the door and stepped out of his room.

- $ -

Well, Inuyasha was awfully nice in the chapter, but that's not going to happen often. How could he be nice? Anyways, please review and give us some thought and more inspiration.


	4. Dauntless

Hey everyone, here's another chapter. Enjoy!

- $ -

**Dauntless **

_Adjective- Incapable of being intimidated or discouraged; fearless_

- $ -

He found Kagome right outside on her hands and knees, with a brush in her hand. What was he supposed to do now? He couldn't make it that obvious that he was looking for the treasure too.

"Hurry up girl," he told her without even looking at her face and then walked away. Inuyasha had to come up with a good plan for her to hand over the map. The two of them were probably the only ones on the ship, or even the world, who knew about it.

- $ -

As soon as Inuyasha climbed up to the deck, one of his crew members yelled at him, "We're almost there, captain!"

"Alright, we're gonna sail our ship behind this island, because no one lives there. I don't want them to think we're raiding it. I'm just going to get some supplies and then we'll be leaving immediately." Inuyasha definitely didn't want to invade this city- it was huge. He walked to the front of the ship to take a good look at Terra Island. It was a somewhat circular island. The shores were rocky and just beyond there was a bustling city. The small shops were lined side by side down a crowded street.

After about ten minutes, the ship ported. Inuyasha was about to leave the ship, but then he thought of Kagome. He needed to get the clue, but how?

Inuyasha walked down to the deck, where Kagome was cleaning. It actually looked pretty clean. "Girl, you're coming with me," he barked at her.

Kagome gave him a confused look.

"I…uh…need you to carry the supplies," he said quickly.

It sounded a little suspicious. Even though she was the slave, but a girl to carry the supplies? He had so many strong guys on board, why her? She had to go along with it though. If only Sango hadn't come with her! She could've escaped while going with Inuyasha! Now, she wouldn't be able to, she couldn't just leave Sango on the ship.

They walked down the steps of the ship, it was deserted.

"You call this an island?"

"Watch…" The two of them walked about a mile. There was a clearing up ahead. All of the sudden, they were surrounded by people.

"Would you like to buy this?"

"It's fresh."

"Good value"

"Buy it please!" People pushed their good in their faces.

Inuyasha brushed them all away with a stern, "No." He walked a few feet ahead of Kagome and turned into a shop. It was an iron shop; he wanted to get a few cannons.

"Hi, welcome to the best iron shop on the island, how may I help you?" a guy smiled.

"Gimme 20 cannons," Inuyasha demanded.

Kagome looked at him, "You're gonna make me carry 20?!"

He ignored her, "Have them ready by this evening, I'll be back to pick them up."

With that, he walked out of the shop. After a few minutes, Inuyasha waited for Kagome to catch up; she was such a slow walker. Now, he had to figure out a way to get the clues in his hands.

"So, how have you been lately…" why did he say that? It sounded so stupid!

Kagome just stared at him, what has he been up to? First the supplies, now the conversation, something was seriously wrong. "Horrible," she spat. She didn't want to have anything to do with him, much less, a conversation.

"It can't be that horrible, all you did was clean." This was only the first task he assigned; it was one of the easiest ones.

"It was horrible, because, well, first of all, you attacked our ship right after we defeated Ghost of the Seven Seas. Second, you took advantage of my arm, and that is the only reason you defeated me, you know. I could've easily taken down your crew any other day. Where's the honor, _captain_? And now, you're going to make me carry stuff, even though you know I can't. And you know what? I can't believe you made Sango join this crew! I could've easily done anything you were going to make her do! You shouldn't have made her join! But you know the worst thing of all?" Kagome was close to tears, but she didn't want to let it out, "I failed my grandpa, I…" She stopped herself, what had she done? Kagome bit her lip, unable to believe that she had just told that Inuyasha. She just blurted it out!

Inuyasha couldn't believe how close she was to telling him about the treasure, "Continue…what about your grandpa?"

"Why should you care?" She said softly, wiping her eyes and turning away from him. She didn't want him to think she's weak.

"Well, I don't care really." He merely shrugged, like it didn't matter.

For a second there, Kagome thought Inuyasha actually had some good intentions. Now, there was something unusual about him. What did he want with her? "Well, fine."

Inuyasha scolded himself, he was so close. He should've just cared some more, but he let his pride get to him. "Ok, we still need to get food, water, and I need to order a sword."

- $ -

Kagome was now carrying dry meats with her left arm. She had successfully forced Inuyasha to carry the rest.

Damn girl, he should have taken another person with him. He shouldn't be carrying anything. He was the captain!

"Ok, last stop," he pointed with his chin, "That shop with the saber painting on it."

Kagome jerked her head up from the ground. She let out a gasp.

"What's wrong," Inuyasha took a good look at the two sabers on the shop's wall.

Kagome regained herself, "Oh, nothing, I just remembered something…" Kagome couldn't help but smile. She quickly followed Inuyasha inside the shop. This was it! The painting in front of the shop was two sabers crossing one another. It was the exact replica of Ghost of the Seven Seas' flag. Kagome now figured out completely what the riddle meant. Never look to far, the answer lies beyond, that meant the flag. The flag was supposed to show her to this exact shop.

An old man came out; he was the keeper of the shop. "How are you all today? How may I help you young couple?"

Kagome looked at Inuyasha; Inuyasha looked at Kagome. "We are not a couple," they both said at the same time.

"Oh, sorry, you two just look like one," he said, and couldn't help to smile at the pair.

"I would never be with him," Kagome said in disgust.

"I would never be with her," he countered.

"Well, how may I help you?" The old man got back on subject.

"Well, I need to order a saber," Inuyasha looked around the shop.

"Very well, this way please," he led them into a small room, on the side of the shop. The walls were lined with sabers; they were arranged by color, size, material, weight, and price.

Kagome looked in awe; she had never seen so many swords in her life. If this shop was really where the clue led to, what does it have to do with the treasure? Could the treasure be hidden here? That would be too easy, anyone could have found it. There must be something more…unless this isn't the right place. Kagome walked around to examine the sabers. She remembered on the map that there was a single saber. Did the saber have anything to do with finding the next clue?

Inuyasha looked at Kagome, was she that interested in sabers? There must be something going on, he noticed that she was checking each sword with care, looking at the blades really closely, it seemed like she was trying to find something on the blades.

"So, go ahead and have a look around," the man had noticed Inuyasha staring at the girl, he chuckled a bit. They were probably a couple, just denying it.

Inuyasha turned his focus on the swords; he pulled out a large, red one. It was made out of the strongest, yet lightest material. He swung it around a couple of times to get the feeling of it. Then said, "This one."

He handed the sword to the shop keeper. The keeper stared at the sword, "Very good choice, the most expensive one. It is made out of the finest material of a sacred island I visited a few years ago, what was the name…it was…"

Inuyasha cut him off, "…Yes, I can afford it, I mean who do you think I am? Some poor person? I'm the captain of Angels nor Demons!" He couldn't keep his mouth closed; the guy had just insulted him.

The shop keeper backed away a little, looking frightened. The old man almost dropped the saber in his hand, he was shaking so much.

"But don't worry; I just need to get a sword, how much?" Inuyasha said quickly. He had no intentions on hurting the man.

"It's…it's….five pieces…of gold." He stuttered.

Inuyasha pulled out a huge bag of gold from his pocket. He dug out five and threw it at the shop keeper. He snatched the sword that was in the shop keeper's shaky hands, and started heading out the door. While Inuyasha was about to leave, he realized Kagome was still back in the room, examining swords.

He stomped back in, "Kagome, I'm leaving!"

Kagome lost her train of thoughts by Inuyasha's interruption. What will she do now? She sighed and walked sadly out the small room. She was probably so close, and now she had to leave. She needed more time here.

- $ -

"I didn't know you were so interested in sabers," Inuyasha asked suspiciously.

Kagome bit her lips, and then smiled, "I was always fascinated by sabers."

The two of them headed back to the ship.

- $ -

As night fell, Inuyasha commanded one of his crewmates to get the cannons for him. He definitely didn't want to carry anymore; today had been more than enough. Also, he needed to stay to aboard to keep an eye on Kagome. She was acting suspicious.

After dinner, which Sango and Kagome made and served, Inuyasha took the two to their cells. She obediently walked into her cell; Inuyasha closed the door behind her. Taking out his keys, he was about to lock it, but something occurred to him. What if he didn't lock the cell door? Maybe she would try to sneak out and go back to the saber shop. If she did, then he could follow her and finally find out what she had been up to. It had to be something about the treasure. Inuyasha decided that it was worth a try. She couldn't sneak off the ship anyways, not without Sango, because she would be locked up.

Inuyasha pretended to lock up Kagome's door. Then, he walked over and truly locked Sango's door. He left without a word.

- $ -

Kagome stretched out her arms before going to sleep. Her legs hit the door and the door creaked open. "Oh my god!" she gasped.

Sango perked up and saw that the door was side open, "Whoa, he didn't lock it?"

"I guess not…" she was still in shock, "I guess I should just close it, don't want to get into anymore trouble." She closed the door.

"Kagome! What are you thinking! This is your chance!" Sango yelled quietly, "You can escape! Go, go!"

"Sango…I can't leave you…" She started, but stopped herself. Wait a minute; she could take this chance to go check out the saber shop. The ship wasn't going to leave until the next day, at least that was what Inuyasha said. This was her only chance. "Sango, listen, I'm going to go for a few minutes, I will be back though, I swear."

Sango rose and eyebrow, "What do you mean? You can escape! Don't worry about me!"

"Well, I just need to take care of some business, I'll be back" She really wanted to tell Sango, but Kagome couldn't. It was a family secret; she had to get it by herself. After this, she left as fast as she could- not allowing Sango to say anything more about the matter.

As she approached the upper deck, there were very few people on watch; almost all of them were back in the rum room, getting drunk. This was her chance; she was going to sneak off the ship.

Kagome ducked behind a barrel, as the watchers walked passed her. She then ran to the edge of the ship. She stepped on a cracked board, it creaked.

Inuyasha woke up with a jolt, what was that? Right away, he spotted Kagome sneaking off the ship. Inuyasha quickly got to his feet and followed her. He hoped that no one would notice that he was gone.

Kagome kept looking back behind her, making sure no one was there, although, she sensed someone behind her. Her turning made Inuyasha jump and hide every time. What a paranoid girl.

After a few minutes of walking the deserted streets, she led him straight to the saber shop, just as he had expected.

Kagome hesitated in front of the door. She knocked. After a few minutes, the same old man came to answer the door.

"Hi, back again? I thought you would have sailed off by now." The old man was not as frightened towards Kagome as Inuyasha.

"Oh, I came back for your swords again; the other one was really good. I want to buy one." Kagome smiled falsely.

"Yeah, I remember you looking at them carefully." He led her inside and back into the small room. "Here you go, you can take however long you like, when you're ready, just tell me, I will be in the study room. It is just to the left of the front door." He left her alone in the room.

Kagome was thankful for the man, yet felt bad because she wasn't really here to buy a sword. Nevertheless, she started examining the swords once more.

- $ -

Inuyasha waited a few moments before stepping up to the front door. He slowly turned the doorknob, and to his surprise, it wasn't locked. Inuyasha slowly opened it and looked around, there was no one there. He carefully walked towards the small room; the door was barely open, there was a little crack, which he could see perfectly through.

He saw Kagome looking at the swords. Then, all of the sudden, she pulled out a map from her pocket. It must've been the map she was talking about outside his room. Inuyasha, however, was too far away to see the details on the map. He could tell it was the shape of this island, but couldn't make out the rest. Kagome was focusing on the corner of the map, was there something important there?

There was a small gasp; she put the map back in her pocket. Kagome scanned the shelves of sabers and stopped abruptly. She walked quickly to the other side of the room and looked down the column. Just then, she stopped. Kagome grasped a small, green saber and pulled it out.

The room shook.

- $ -

Hope you all enjoyed it!


	5. Enigmatic

Sorry that took so long to update, had it all written out and then just left it there. My bad.

Thanks for the reviews. Try to be imaginative this chapter, enjoy!

- $ -

**Enigmatic **

_Adjective - Of or resembling an enigma; puzzling; mysterious_

- $ -

The shelf that Kagome pulled the saber out of started shaking. She stepped back as she watched the action unfold. The shelf moved forward, out from the other shelves. It then split in two, right where the green saber was. Half of the shelf was on the right, while the other half was on the left. The opening displayed a long staircase. Along side the stairs were torches, already lit, they illuminated the staircase leading down.

Kagome stood there emotionlessly. When she regained her consciousness, she slowly placed the sword onto the ground and walked forward into the secret staircase. When she entered, she grabbed a torch on her right side and carefully walked down.

The treasure must be just beneath the stairs, it was clever, and the map led her to all of this.

She cautiously stepped on the stone staircases. All of the sudden, she quickly looked around; she sensed someone was behind her, but it must have just been her imagination.

- $ -

After waiting for a few minutes, Inuyasha decided to follow Kagome. Something was definitely going on, whether it was the treasure, or something else, he was going to find out.

Inuyasha approached the opening; he couldn't exactly tell where Kagome was, so he decided to walk down there as silently and quickly as possible.

He walked down to the last step. Kagome was in a chamber with her back was turned on him. She was examining a wall in front of her. The wall was covered with ancient scriptures that were carved into it. He could barely make some of the sentences out, but for some reason he knew what some of it meant.

Inuyasha stared in awe. He walked noiselessly to the corner of the room where he would be able to keep an eye on Kagome while hidden in the darkness.

- $ -

Kagome looked around her. She was in the middle of a room. Three walls surrounded her. The one that was facing her, was on the only one with markings. She took the torch and held it up to the wall. The writing was unfamiliar.

"What is the meaning of this," she wondered out loud, "What am I supposed to do? I can't even read it." Kagome stared at the carvings some more.

"The only thing that I have now is this vile." She placed the torch into a little torch holder. Kagome reached into her pocket and pulled it out. "But how is this supposed to help me read these inscriptions?" she pondered. She took the cork off and looked at the liquid inside. "There must be a reason to why this came with the map." Kagome tipped the vile to pour some into her hand.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Inuyasha stepped out from the shadow and into the light.

Kagome jumped at the remark, spilling some of the liquid onto the wall. She turned around and saw Inuyasha near the corner of the chamber.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

He shrugged, "I followed you here."

Kagome narrowed her eyes, "Why?"

"Well, first off, you are my captive and you are not supposed to even be here and secondly, you have something that I want."

"What is that you want from me?"

"What you are holding right in your hand."

Kagome looked down at the vile that she was holding. Then she noticed something on the wall that wasn't there before. The liquid that had splashed on the wall was not clear any more. It was glowing, but just on one of the words.

Then Kagome returned her attention back on their conversation trying not to let Inuyasha notice that there was something on the wall. She started stuttering, "Why, why would you want this?'

"You know just as well as I do the value of that vile. Don't act stupid."

What did he mean by this? Did he actually know about the treasure? The only people who could've known were her family. No, he couldn't… he just couldn't, she convinced herself.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"The treasure, how dumb can you get."

So he actually knew. "You… I… how do you know about this?" She hadn't meant to stumble, but it just came out that way.

"I heard you outside my room this morning. And I was just going to ask you the same question. How do _you_ know about the treasure?"

Kagome didn't know what do say. Should she tell him the truth?

"Well, I found this clue aboard my crew ship, and just thought that I should follow it." She tried keeping a straight face.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "No, I want the truth."

Kagome tried to continue on with her lie. "I did find it on the crew ship. Someone gave it to me to search for the treasure, but I didn't have any clue what he was talking about."

"You know, you really suck at lying." He crossed his arms.

Kagome sighed and out came the truth. "It was… my grandpa. He died when I was little. And right when about he was about to go, he gave me a riddle to solve and told me that I had to find a treasure."

Could it be? That was the exact same thing his parents did to him.

"I don't know what to say," responded Inuyasha.

"I don't either," Kagome stared at the ground. That was when Inuyasha noticed the wall behind her. It was hard to make out from the distance, so he walked closer.

Kagome become aware of the fact that Inuyasha was walking towards her. She knew what he was doing. Kagome stood up straight and inched backwards trying to cover up the wall.

"Get out of my way." Kagome was shoved to the side. It was incredible. The word that was glowing was kaasta. "KA-as-ta," he tried pronouncing it.

"Funny, that's how I pronounced it."

"So what do we do?"

"Simple, the vile made that particular word glow; maybe it will make other words glow as well." He already knew the truth now, so she might as well work with him for the time being, but once it got down to the next clue, she would somehow have to steal it for herself.

She looked at the vile in her hand and dipped her finger into the vile and brushed the liquid on the wall. After a few more minutes of doing so, more words glowed. They were randomly placed on the wall and it read:

Iti

Schiwgatee

Kaasta

Aseonecre

Gaz

Ut

Both Kagome and Inuyasha squinted at the six glowing words.

"Is it supposed to tell us something?" he asked her stupidly.

"How stupid can you get? This is the message for us to be able to get to the next clue."

"Wow, what does it mean?" he said slowly.

"You think I can read this gibberish? We should copy it down somewhere."

"Do you have any paper?"

"No." Kagome looked around. "We're running out of time. He's going to be wondering what is taking me so long. Why don't I memorize the first three and you memorize the last three."

That was one of the most civil conversations he has had with her. It was only just for the time being. Tomorrow, he was going to get back to business.

"Sure, sure. You better not forget them," he said.

"_I_ better not forget them? I'm worried that _you'll_ forget them."

"So if we could just all worry about ourselves, then everything should be fine," he said mockingly.

She sneered, "Speak for yourself."

"Wait, wait! I think I got something." Inuyasha touched the word "UT". He remembered reading that word somewhere, something about ancient history scriptures.

"What? If this is a joke, it's not funny; we're running out of time." She kept her eyes on the wall.

"No, it's not. This is really important. I recognize the word "UT"…" He looked up and tried as hard as he could to remember.

"Continue," Now, she turned towards him.

"Oh! I got it, it means 'he'!" He did it, translated the first word.

Kagome stared at him confusingly, "he…as in him?"

"Yes."

"What does this have to do with the clue?" Now was Kagome's turn to ask stupid questions.

"Well, if we figure out the other words, I'm sure it will all make sense. Come on, hurry up and memorize."

The two of them turned right back towards the wall.

- $ -

A few minutes of awkward silence passed by, they were both trying to memorize the unfamiliar words on the wall.

"I got it," Kagome gave a relieved sigh.

"Me too," Inuyasha nodded.

"Let's head back, it's getting late." She stared up the passage way, long way up. She hoped that the owner hadn't noticed yet, or she would be screwed.

The two of them gave one last glance at the wall before turning around and heading to the narrow opening. The torches were lit, illuminating the stairway. They climbed back up into the saber room.

"Well, I guess we have to close it," she said in a slight whisper.

Inuyasha looked around for the green saber Kagome had used earlier. He found it on the floor right next to him and handed it to her.

"Wait, how did you…" she started to question him.

But he cut her off, "I saw."

She rolled her eyes and snatched the sword from his hand. She then slowly walked up to the shelf and looked at the scabbard. "This is it," she took in a breath and held it while slowly inserting the sword. When it was all the way in, the room started to shake again, the opening to the secret passage was closing.

"Who's there?!" A voice from another room yelled. Loud footsteps could be heard approaching closer and closer to the room.

- $ -

The end! Hope you were imaginative or it wouldn't have worked out, lol. Please review!


	6. Fulfillment

Is it just me or does it seem like I'm updating fast even though I've forgotten what I've written…that did not make sense.

Anyways, thanks for all those reviews (although 49 reviews is kind of sad) but whatever, hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

- $ -

**Fulfillment**

_Noun - To bring into actuality; effect_

- $ -

Kagome and Inuyasha exchanged worrisome glances.

"We better get out of here," Kagome said quickly as she headed for the door.

Just as she opened it, she was face-to-face with the owner.

"What was all that noise?" he demanded from her.

"I…" she turned around for help from Inuyasha, but he was gone, "I just dropped some swords when I was looking at them."

The man didn't seem to believe her. He looked over her shoulder into the room and noticed that everything was in its place. "It's late. Did anything interest you?"

"No. Nothing." Kagome replied and left hastily. She didn't have the slightest clue where Inuyasha could be, but that really wasn't bothering her too much. He could be dead for all she cared.

She stepped out into the cool night was headed back for the ship. She felt a tap on her shoulder and whirled around pulling out her sword.

"Whoa. You don't want to kill me just yet," Inuyasha said casually, pushing away her sword with his hand.

"Where did you disappear to?" she questioned.

"Out the window. The man wouldn't have let you go that easily if he had found me there with you."

Kagome rolled her eyes.

"Once we get back on the ship, you have to pretend that I caught you trying to escape and it's going to back in that cell from now on. Got it?"

"You should treat me with a little more respect than that. I do have the other three words that you need."

"We're going to have to work together and stop threatening each other if we are going to get anywhere, aren't we?" Inuyasha actually didn't want to work with her at all, he hated her, but for the time being, he needed those three other words. He should have just memorized them himself and now he wouldn't have to treating Kagome with and kindness at all.

"Yes, but I don't like that cell…" she started.

"Well, you're going to have to live with it, huh." He instantly replied back.

"Inuyasha…" she whined, getting tired of the cold, hard cement floor.

"What do you want me to do?" He said rudely.

"I **do** have your other clues…" she tried again, "the least you can for me is get some blankets, clean it out, a pillow would be nice too," she thought some more, "you know, cushions, a mattress doesn't sound that bad, how about…"

"Ok, ok, how annoying can a girl get? How about this… I'll get you a blanket and a pillow and that's it." She was sure a girl who could whine. It seemed hard to believe that she used to be the captain of one of the strongest crews. Where was that toughness?

"That's it? Sango too, okay?"

"Fine, but nothing more."

"Deal." Kagome and Inuyasha shook hands.

"Don't try to threaten me with the three clues that you have memorized from now on."

"Fine, you too."

- $ -

They made their way back on the ship. Inuyasha pulled Kagome's hands behind her back as they boarded.

He whispered as they were walked up the plank, "Don't do something stupid. Act along. I'll call you to my room in the morning and we'll figure this all out."

"Oh, you found the girl," one of the guards yelled out. "She's a nasty little thing. Are you going to slit her throat or make her walk the plank when we get out to sea? The ship is getting boring, we need action like that."

He thought for a moment before answering, "Why not keep her around for awhile. There are lots of things that still need to be done. You don't want to mop the deck everyday now, do you?"

Kagome clenched her fists and tried as hard as she could to not make a come back.

"So what happened out there?"

"Yeah, she snuck out, but I caught her before she could get very far. Throw her back into her cell where she belongs," Inuyasha was trying to be brief.

Inuyasha rudely pushed Kagome over to the guard. She gave him a dirty look before the guard shoved her down the stairs.

Kagome soon found herself back in the dirty cell. Right when Kagome got thrown back into the cell and the guard left, Sango got as close to Kagome as possible.

"What happened?"

"Well…"

"Where'd you go?"

"Around."

"Why did you not escape?"

"Oh, I couldn't leave you."

"Of course you could! I'll be fine here. Did someone catch you?"

"Yes,"

"Who?"

"Inuyasha…"

"Are you getting punished?"

"Sango…calm down, you're not even letting me finish, plus, it's kind of late, we should get to sleep. I'll tell you about it tomorrow."

"No, Kagome, I need to know what happened."

"Ok, all I can tell you is that everything is fine. Don't worry about me." She sighed and tried to calm her friend down, but it wasn't working.

"Well, Inuyasha is obviously gonna do something to you, right? I mean he _caught_ you."

"Listen, between me and Inuyasha..." it was too late to lie, "don't tell anyone, but we kind of worked out…an agreement."

Right when she said that, footsteps could be heard coming down the creaky stairs. Sango immediately backed away to the wall. The shadow started getting closer and closer. "Kagome…" it whispered.

Kagome froze for a second, that was Inuyasha' voice, what would he be doing here?

When he turned around the corner, Inuyasha was carrying blankets and pillows. Sango stared confused. He sighed, "I hope you're happy now," as he shoved a blanket and pillow in each of the cells through the bars. Without looking back, he left.

Sango scrunched her eyebrows and looked at Kagome confusingly, "Um…"

Kagome didn't know what to say, "Yeah…"

She then got close to Kagome's cell again, "Was that the agreement?"

"Sort of."

"What did you give him?" she looked at her cautiously.

"It's…complicated, you wouldn't want to know."

"Oh yes, I really want to know." Sango said, trying to fear for the worse.

"No, forget it, I need some sleep." She turned her back against Sango. It was really painful not telling her the secret she had kept in her chest ever since she was little, but it was a family secret and she couldn't just tell anyone, not even Sango.

Seeing her friend avoid everything she asked, she thought it was better to let it off. Sango would have to find out by herself. Knowing Kagome, she probably did this not for herself.

- $ -

In the morning, just as the birds were starting to chirp, the sun was peaked the horizon, the air was crisp. Inuyasha got up slowly, stretching his whole body, and giving a huge yawn. Time to get to work.

In Kagome's cell, on the other hand, no birds chirped, there was no sun, it was dark, and the air was damp, very damp. Her sleep was more restful that night, because of the comfort of the pillow and the warmth of the blanket.

Right when she was about to get up, a pirate came in, dressed in filthy rags, he unlocked the cell door and jerked it open. "Get up; the captain wants to see you."

Instantly, Kagome knew what it was about. She stood up quickly and followed him. Luckily, Sango was still asleep. The pirate took her all the way across the ship and down a few stairs; he stopped right in front of the door. It was Inuyasha's room; Kagome recognized it from the previous day. He knocked nervously, as if afraid to face the captain. "I...have brought her…captain," He stumbled.

"Bring her in," the voice from inside yelled.

He slowly turned the knob of the door, shoved her inside, and immediately left.

Kagome looked around, there were random pieces of gold scattered about, dirty yet fancy clothes were laying everywhere, his bed could fit at least three people, and he had a nice mahogany desk and chair, where layers of maps were spread.

"Your room's a mess." Was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

"Do you know who you're talking to?" he sat on the fine wooden chair, facing her, with his feet propped on the desk.

"Yes, yes," she said sarcastically, "You would be the captain of this ship, leader of the _best _crew in the seven seas, Angels nor Demons."

"Well said," he smirked. "Now", he pulled out a piece of paper, a quill, and some ink, "write your words down."

Kagome wanted _him_ to write them down first, but what could she do? She wrote down the first two words quickly, right when she was about to write the third word, she hesitated.

"Well…" Inuyasha rushed.

"I…"

"Don't tell me you forgot it, what a worthless girl you are." He snatched the paper from her before she could think of the last word, He read them, "Iti Schiwagtee...hurry up, think of the last one, you're not just trying to hide it from me, are you?"

Kagome looked up at him, "Stop it, I can't think under pressure!"

He sighed, out of all the girls in all of the oceans, why did _she_ have to know about the clue, why couldn't it have been anyone else? Or, even better, why did anyone else have to know?

"Here, write down your three words and maybe I can think of mine," she said as calmly as possible.

"Fine," he took another quill and wrote it down instantly.

After a few minutes of silence and pondering, Kagome finally got it, "Oh, I remember, I remember!" she took the paper from Inuyasha's hand and wrote down "Kaasta".

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, positive,"

"Alright," he took the paper back, so I know "Ut" means he, we'll just have to figure out the rest of this."

"How did you know the translation?"

"I read it somewhere; I've been trying to figure out where all night." He shuffled through some papers and his bookcase. Then, all of the sudden, Inuyasha remembered, "Oh!"

"What?"

Ignoring Kagome, he brushed right pass her, heading towards his big closet.

"What are you doing?"

He stopped at the side and started pushing it towards the left.

"Lunatic…" Kagome whispered to herself.

He pushed until it was about 3 feet from where it was before, revealing a secret section of the wall.

"What is this?" She asked, although not expecting an answer.

Quickly, he tapped random parts of the wall, until the wall came out, it was a square box.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled, getting tired of him ignoring her.

He tapped his foot impatiently, until the box came fully out. Taking it with great care, he blew away the dust and swept away the cobwebs. Then, Inuyasha finally faced Kagome. "Don't you dare tell anyone," he eyed seriously, his voice was stern, he meant it.

Inuyasha unlatched the box slowly, while explaining, "This was passed on from generation to generation in my family. I can't believe I opened it in front of you…I should've kicked you outside or something…how stupid…"

Kagome sighed, "Trust me, even if I did know where it was, there was no way I remembered all the taping you did and where."

"Alright, good," he took a deep breath and opened the lid of the box; he smiled as he saw the thing in front of him. Inuyasha slowly reached his hand into the box and brought out a book, it was leather bound, with laces all around, the edges were torn, and the pages were ripped. He looked at her, "The Code".

"Perfect," she gleamed and took a spot next to him on the floor.

He flipped open the cover and immediately, thousands of words were seen, as small as they could get, some were unreadable.

"So, this is how you knew the 'ut' was he?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure," he scanned his finger down the first page, "I don't know how we're going to translate this, the words aren't in order, they are very random, there are hundreds of pages."

"Iti schiwgatee kaasta aseonecre gaz ut," Kagome read with difficulty.

"Right," Inuyasha nodded, then smiled, "oh, here it is, ut" Inuyasha showed her the line, "ut – he, it is often used in a pirate's language for referring to someone, it is not formal, a matey is the most common use."

"Wow, sounds like a dictionary." Kagome rolled her eyes, "so do you mean to say they talked like this back then?"

"Correct, back in the days, everyone talked like this. This book was written so common people can understand people like us. But that's changed…" He scanned through more pages, after a few minutes, he smirked, "Why am _I_ looking for them? I'm the captain; I shouldn't do any dirty work. Plus, I'm hungry. It's been an hour already. I've got an assignment for you and you will not leave until you are done with it. Your assignment is to translate this sentence."

Kagome took in a breath, "Are you kidding me?"

"No, absolutely not. Of course, you won't be lonely in here. I don't trust you in my room, and I don't trust you with my book, so I'm going to have to watch you this whole time. Feel better? I'm doing some dirty work too." He explained sarcastically.

"Whatever…"

He handed the book over to her carefully, "Treat it with care…I warn you…"

This was the start of a long day.

- $ -

After hours and hours of desperate flipping through the sacred book, Kagome finally deciphered the sentence. "I've got it!" she said at last, it was already dark.

At this point, Inuyasha was almost asleep, but after hearing her yell, he immediately jumped up, "you got it?"

"Yes!"

"What does it mean?"

"Well…" She held up the piece of paper, standing up, while rubbing her eyes, "In Davey Jones' Locker lies he."

"What does that mean?"

- $ -

End! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! More clues and fun! Leave a review please for opinions, thanks!


	7. Glean

Another chapter! Thanks for all the support guys.

- $ -

**Glean**

_Noun - To gather slowly and laboriously, bit by bit _

- $ -

"That can't be right, you must have looked up the wrong words," Inuyasha paced back and forth, he grabbed the book away from her. "Now, where are those words," he flipped through a couple hundred pages.

Kagome sighed, she had looked for hours, and she couldn't have translated incorrectly. "Here, I remember where they are, I marked them." She held out her hand for the book.

He had no choice but to give her the book. Kagome flipped through several pages and found "schiwgatee kaasta aseonecre" next to one another. "Right here," she read, "Davey Jones' locker: it is often used in pirate language as an idiom for bottom of the sea. It is a resting place for drown pirates or seamen. It is a less offense, more relaxing way of expressing death at the sea, and here's some history…" Kagome kept reading, but Inuyasha stopped her.

"Okay, so what you're saying is 'In the bottom of the sea lies he?' it still doesn't make too much sense."

"Maybe the treasure is at the bottom of the sea." Kagome suggested.

"And how are we supposed to go down there?" Inuyasha sighed; maybe the treasure was gone forever. They were just wasting their time.

"I don't know, this doesn't make very much sense," she pondered, "'lies he', we're looking for a person." She stated, it made more sense, but just who were they looking for?

"Does the book say anything more?"

Kagome flipped a few pages, "just a bunch of useless history."

- $ -

Kikyo stared at the framed picture of Naraku hanging on the wall in his room. It's been two weeks, in her mind, it felt like two years. Naraku meant everything to her. She met him when she was just a little girl, she was abused and abandoned by her parents, and he took her in. He was just seven years older than her, he took care of her.

Naraku's parents were wealthy sailors and always spoiled him. However, Naraku's dream was to become a captain, and to sail the seven seas. His parents thought it was too dangerous and he was too young and inexperienced, so they never let him. Naraku started ignoring and hating his parents more and more. His love for his parents turned to hate within days.

One day, at their shack, Kikyo heard shouting noises in the room next to hers; it was Naraku and his parents. The next thing she knew, Naraku came in, covered with blood, he grabbed her and together, they ran onto their ship.

For years, she and Naraku worked side by side to fulfill his dream of becoming a captain. They built up crews, supporters, and killed anyone in their way.

They sailed North and South, East and West, raided every island they came across and attacked every ship, they were the most successful and famous crew, Ghost of the Seven Seas. When people heard the name, they would gasp or turn away, hearing the name itself brought fear in their eyes.

Just a few months after this fame, Naraku had to leave the world. Now, she had no one.

That girl! She had to take his life, what did he ever do? And along with Naraku's life, she also took her heart, she was heartbroken. Kikyo clenched her fist together; she was going to get revenge on Naraku. She was going to kill Kagome, her family, her crew, and everything that belonged to her.

She will search all of the seven seas until she finds her.

"Land ho!" She heard one of her pirates yell.

Kikyo quickly straightened out jacket, pulled her hair into a ponytail, and put on her cap; she then headed out the door. It was time to restock.

"Captain, we are at dock," a little girl said to her.

"I heard you the first time! Shut up and go recruit people." Kikyo put her hand up, as if getting ready to slap her.

The little girl turned around and ran away. Ever since Naraku died, things have gotten worse and worse. All Kikyo would do was yell and abuse people, she didn't care about anyone but herself. Everyone in the crew hated her, but couldn't abandon because of Ghost of the Seven Seas pride and they had no where to go anyways.

Naraku took them in when they were desperate and hungry. Although he scolded them and made them work hard, it all paid off in the end.

The little girl hurried off to shore.

- $ -

"Ok, so we're looking for someone at the bottom of the sea…" Inuyasha sat down on his bed, "there could be millions down there, who are we looking for?"

"I don't know, it's probably someone important," Kagome suggested.

"Of course they're important, but who is it?" Inuyasha fired back at her. It was a stressful day and they weren't going to figure out the clue. It made no sense.

Kagome skimmed over the book one more time, there had to be something that she missed. There were two whole pages on the word.

Finally, at the bottom of the second page, there was something unusual. It seemed to be written in there by somebody. It was small cursive handwriting; she could barely make out what it said. "Inuyasha, come here." She said slowly, waving her hand to him without looking.

"What now," he said lazily as he strode over by the book. She pointed to the writing at the bottom of the second page. He snatched the book away from her and put it close to his face, "it is a nickname for what would be the Devil of the Seas" he read slowly and looked up. "Devil of the Seas underlined."

Kagome tilted her head to one side, thinking. _Devil of the Seas._ All these clues ended up being riddles and codes. Were they looking for a devil? The Satan himself? Devil of the seas, Poseidon and Neptune according to the Greeks and Romans? There were too many possibilities.

"Wait…" Inuyasha stopped Kagome in her thoughts, "there's an arrow." He flipped the page. "This page is on parrots, how odd." He glanced over the page. Miraculously, there was another handwritten message at the bottom. "Parrot – Raptor. What are they talking about?" Inuyasha fumbled.

Kagome peered over Inuyasha's shoulder, so he wasn't reading it wrong. Parrot – Raptor, another riddle, were they looking for similarities? "Does this even have anything to do with Devil of the Seas?"

"Of course, the arrow was pointing to this page," he sighed and showed it to her, "now we just have to figure out what this all means."

"Well," Kagome started, "Both the parrot and the raptor fly, but I don't know how that's relevant since we're looking at the bottom of the sea."

"One is ancient one is not?" he suggested, it sounded stupid though.

"This shouldn't be too hard, all the codes and hints lead to this, and someone had been trying to tell us, so we have to figure it out." Kagome took in a deep breath.

"Well, what do you suggest then?"

"Let's get things straight, we're dealing with the Devil of the Sea and the bottom of the sea, which connects with parrots and raptors."

Inuyasha nodded, "right."

"There must be similarities or differences between raptors and parrots, therefore leading us to the Devil and the bottom of the sea." Kagome lectured, as if knowing what she was talking about.

"Well, the similarity is that they both fly. The difference would be one is still living and the other is extinct." He sighed, "I don't see how this could help at all. We're looking for treasures, not some flying dinosaur."

"Calm down, Inuyasha, do you have papyrus, quill, and some ink?" she started heading to Inuyasha's desk.

"Why would you need that," he eyed her suspiciously.

"I'm writing them down so I can figure it out somewhere else," she wanted some time alone to think it through. Inuyasha wasn't helping at all, in fact, he was slowing her down.

Inuyasha took out the material and let her copy it. First, she wrote down, 'In Davey Jones locker lies he.' Then, 'Devil of the Sea'. And lastly, 'parrot – raptor.'

As she finished writing raptor, she felt as if she just missed something. It was awkward. She wrote it down again. This time, she gasped. "Inuyasha!" she yelled, "I see it! I found the similarly between parrot and raptor!"

Inuyasha nearly jumped at the sound of her screaming. He quickly got up and walked to Kagome. "What?"

"Parrot and raptor," she started, "they…they're anagrams!"

"Anagrams? What?" Never in his life has he heard of a word like such.

"Look," Kagome pushed his head towards her writing, "Parrot: P-A-R-R-O-T."

"Duh, I know that, think I can't spell?"

"Shut up and listen. Raptor: R-A-P-T-O-R."

"So? I'm not getting it."

Kagome took in a deep, long breath, how could he not see it? "Inuyasha! They both use the same letters!"

There was silence.

"What?" Inuyasha asked, "I don't see how this is relevant. God Kagome, I thought you figured out something important." He started going back to his bed.

"Inuyasha! You are so stupid! You're lucky you have me here or you would never have figured it out." Inuyasha stopped in his steps, Kagome continued, "Since parrot and raptor are anagrams, it must be a hint for the writing on the first page, Devil of the Seas. Therefore, Devil of the Seas must be an anagram!"

"What?" Inuyasha went back to his desk.

"We have to unscramble Devil of the Seas and that will lead to the treasure!" Kagome grinned, she got it!

Inuyasha caught up right away "Oh! And since we're looking for a person, Devil of the Seas must be the person's name."

"Correct, you're smarter than I thought."

They both got out quills and started unscrambling.

-$-

Sango scrubbed the deck for about the 100th time of the two weeks she's been there. Everyday was like this; she would clean and clean until her hands burned out. Then, of course, she had to cook.

"What is a pretty woman doing in a filthy place like this?" Footsteps approached.

Sango looked up; it was him, the man that offered her to join the crew alongside with Kagome. Of course she had to accept! She couldn't leave Kagome here by herself. "What do you want?"

"Oh, in a bad mood are we?" he smirked, "don't you remember who I am?"

Sango didn't bother replying, she kept scrubbing the floors.

"Ah, so I haven't introduced myself yet." He said dramatically, "I am Miroku, the greatest navigator of the sea, the best friend of the best captain of the sea. The best crew mate and I could be the best husband." He walked towards Sango, a grin on his face.

Sango scoffed, "Oh, well, that was original." The first time they met, he gave the same exact speech.

"Miroku! We need your help!" A pirate ran looking for him, "one of your maps is inaccurate, and we need to change it right away before we set sail."

Sango snickered and said sarcastically, "Yeah, best navigator huh."

- $ -

"I got it!" Kagome held up her writing, "I can't believe it, we were so blind! Devil of the Seas unscrambles to Vestode H. Fealis!"

Inuyasha's mouth opened wide, "you've got to be kidding me."

"It was right there the whole time, we were searching too deep. Luckily there was the parrot clue." Kagome smiled, she could smell the treasure right now, lurking at the bottom of the sea.

- $ -

Vestode H. Fealis was the most cruel, brutal captain ever. He was a legend that was passed on from generation to generation. Children would lie awake in bed, not being able to sleep, after the story was told.

Vestode killed people ruthlessly; his crew plundered the towns, raped the women, and killed animal to drink their blood. He had thousands of followers, who he did not care about; he killed them whenever he wasn't satisfied.

Everyone was scared of him; no one could look him in those deep, dark eyes, no one even dared to touch him. No ships dared to get close to him, the seas were his, and he owned them.

One night, he set assail from a city that had been demolished, he never came back, and that was the last time he was ever heard of. Some say, that a sea monster killed him. Yet, others say, because he was treating the sea poorly, it took his life. Thus, he is now known as "Devil of the Seas".

-$-

Lately that evening, Kikyo went onto the island.

Slowly, she wandered down the streets; she needed supplies to fill her ship. And then, she would set off in search of Kagome. Revenge was near, she could smell it, she could taste it.

Not paying attention, a body bumped into her. "Sorry," a girl muttered. Kikyo just walked passed her, with her head staring at the ground.

"God Kagome, pay attention to where you're going," Inuyasha yelled.

Kikyo whirled around, "Kagome?"

- $ -

So, we (Lilypad05 and I) have a question for you guys, or you could give us some criticisms, suggestions, or something. Is this not the type of story you guys like to read? Or is it just boring? I mean, we both think this story is better written than both of our other ones, and yet, the other ones get way more views, reviews, favorites etc.

Personally, for me, I like stories with mainly romance and I guess if I came across this story where the first genre was mystery, I wouldn't read it? At least that's what I think I'd do…but who knows, since I love pirates.

Just give us an honest opinion. Thanks!


	8. Hoodwink

School's out, winter break, it's snowing like three feet, pretty awesome. Oh and thanks for all those reviews and comments, suggestions etc, we loved every one of them! It really gives us inspiration to write more. So thanks again!

- $ -

**Hoodwink **

_Verb – to deceive or trick_

- $ -

There Kikyo saw. Was it the same girl that had killed Naraku? Yes, it had to be her, Kagome. She wore the same ponytail, was about the same height, and had about the same figure. What is she doing here on this island? What a coincidence.

Kikyo had to do something. The girl did not turned around when she had said her name out loud. Kagome was still walking ahead, bickering with the person next to her. She followed the pair back to the dock. Kagome was boarding Angels nor Demons ship. What was she doing on that ship? What had happened to her ship and crew? Had Angels nor Demons defeated them? Kikyo continued to ponder.

"Captain, are we sailing tomorrow morning?" One of the crew members asked. When Kikyo heard this, she thought up a good plan. This might be her one and only chance to avenge Naraku.

"Yes, right when the sun breaks over the mountain," replied the captain, presumably.

To do this, Kikyo had to find a way to get on the ship before it would set sail. She had to return to her crew and inform them that she would be gone for a few days and that they had to stay at the dock until she would return.

Afterwards, she was going to sneak aboard the ship, Angels nor Demons. What she would do next, she did not know; but as long as she was aboard the same ship as Kagome, she could then find a suitable time to get rid of her.

- $ -

"Inuyasha, I feel bad for doing this," Kagome said as she set down a stack of books on the table. She looked over to Inuyasha, who was getting annoyed with her. The two of them, although they bitter a lot, have been doing pretty well together. They both knew that the reason for them being together was to find the treasure, but Kagome couldn't help but wonder what would happen after they found it. What if they didn't find it at all? What would Inuyasha do to her then? She kind of enjoyed his company, it was somewhat relaxing.

Inuyasha sighed, staring over at her worried glance. However, he tried to calm her down, "Are we humans or are we pirates?" Although it had only been a little over a week since they meet each other, every time he was with her, he felt like he could loosen up. He didn't have to be the captain that everyone looked up to or depended on. He was just Inuyasha.

The two had searched all around the island for books about Vestode H. Fealis. Instead of buying the books however, they took them and threatened the owners that if they didn't give the books over then they would die.

Kagome rolled her eyes at him. "We're pirates _and_ humans."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her also. He smirked, "Humans are beings that have no lives but to sit there and work. They're weak. Pirates, on the other hand, own the sea. We do whatever we want and whenever we want to," he was about to continue, but was cut off my Kagome.

"Ok, whatever, _captain_," she threw a book at him, to her surprise he caught it perfectly, "Now let's get to work. This clue will lead us to the treasure." With everyday that passed, their conversations became more normal. They did not have to think of what to say to each other, it just came out. It was actually not as stressful being around each other as before.

"Vestode H. Fealis," he said to himself. "What could be so special about him? Was he the one that hid the treasure?"

"He might be the one," Kagome pondered to herself also, "I mean, he was known as the Devil of the Seas, so he would have looted many towns and stolen a bunch of treasure. Do you think he hid the treasure at the bottom of the sea?"

"He could have, but if he did then we probably can't get to it then."

"The seas are so big, and plus, we would never be able to dive down there." She flipped open one of the books and started to read.

Inuyasha sighed, "Here we go again."

- $ -

Kikyo headed back to her crew. She first went into her room and to grab her sword and just to be safe she hid some daggers inside her jacket.

She then walked into Naraku's room, to say that she was going to avenge him.

His photo hung on the wall. She touched his face with the tips of her fingers. "I'm going to take my revenge. That girl will pay for what she did to you. Tonight I will slit her throat and let her blood pour into the sea. But don't worry; I'll bring you back some blood also. She will suffer a slow and painful death."

Kikyo suddenly felt a chilling breeze brush past her hair. It was as if Naraku's spirit had come back hearing this. "You're death will not be forgotten. How you have suffered, it will always live on. I will make the girl pay," she said vehemently.

Just as Kikyo was about to leave the room and go back up to the deck to tell her crew members that she would be leaving for a bit, she noticed an empty spot on the ground. A chest used to lie in Naraku's room. Naraku had vaguely answered her questions about the chest when she had asked him about it.

"_Naraku, what's in that chest?" Kikyo asked him one night sitting on his bed, "I've never seen you open it."_

"_I don't know, Kikyo," he had replied with little emotion. "When I took the ship from my parents it was already here. I've never figured how to open it. My parents used to tell me about some treasure when I was little. They were always looking for it. Obviously, they never found it and I had to travel with them for all these years looking for some treasure that didn't even exist."_

_Kikyo nodded. She knew that he was very grateful for getting rid of his parents, but she couldn't help but to think that the treasure could be real. What if it really was out there? They wouldn't have to work anymore for money. "How does it open? Don't you have the key or something?"_

"_No, they open when you align up some numbers together correctly," he was turning away from her, already bored of the conversation. _

_Kikyo went over the chest. She fingered the swirling dials to align up the four numbers. She guessed randomly and tried to open up the chest. It didn't even budge. _

"_Give it up, Kikyo. Unless you have the code there could be millions of possibilities." _

_Although he didn't show, Kikyo could tell that he wanted to find the treasure. She would see him in his room for hours trying to unlock the treasure. If he truly didn't care for it, he could have just tossed it away at any time. _

She remembered that Kagome had taken the chest away when she had defeated their ship. She had remembered one of Kagome's crew members had taken the chest up from the room and carried it back to the ship. How could she have forgotten?

But it didn't matter; Kagome probably was unable to the open the chest, unless… she had the numbers. Kikyo shrugged it off. There was no way that Kagome would end up with the numbers if Naraku had the chest in the first place. She probably just thought it had booty in it.

With one last glance at the room, Kikyo left and headed up to the upper deck. She gathered up her crew mates and said, "I'm going to be leaving tonight for some business," she coughed, "Anyways, I need you guys to stay put and wait for my return. Anyone who doesn't follow the crew rules will be planked tomorrow after we set sail and anyone who dares to run away, good luck because this island is very selfish." With that, she walked off the ship and the crew sighed in relief behind her back.

- $ -

Kikyo wandered how she was possibly going to board the ship. Just as she was thinking, she saw a man carrying some rum onto Angels nor Demons' ship. "Perfect," she said to herself.

"Here, I'll get those for you. You're heading to Angels nor Demons, right?" she blurted as she grabbed the box of rum from his hand.

"Um, sure. Go ahead," he said suspiciously, "Whatever, I hate that crew. Be careful," and he walked away before she could respond.

As she was boarding the ship, a pirate stopped Kikyo in her tracks. "What do you think you are doing?" he asked spitefully.

"Oh… I," she stumbled, "I'm just delivering some rum. Every pirate has to have their rum, right?" She pretended to laugh. The pirate, however, did not.

"Fine, go ahead. Put it down those stairs," he pointed to his right, "Hurry and be quick. Don't try to pull anything funny."

"Of course," Kikyo quickly went down the steps, but just before she need, she had made a quick skim of all the pirates that were on deck. No Kagome.

She quickly set the rum down and looked around in the storage room which was right next to the cells. This ship was huge, even the cell room was bigger than her bedroom. No one was down there. She had to find her no matter what. Tonight would be the night.

She went up one flight of stairs and it turned out to be a huge hall of bedrooms. This crew was rich. The doorknobs were even made out of bronze. Comparing this three-floored ship to her two, this ship was what every pirate would have wanted. If only Naraku did not die at the hands of Kagome, they could have built a ship this big or even bigger.

She clutched her sword and swung open the first door. No one was there. The room had an average sized bed and a small desk in the corner. She did the same thing to the second as well as the third, fourth doors, still no one. Where could she be?

As she turned the knob of the fifth door, it was locked. She stepped back and took a good look at the door. There were carvings about the door. It was bigger than all of the previous doors and the doorknob seemed to be made out of pure gold. It couldn't be where Kagome was; she was a captive after all.

Just as Kikyo was about to move on to the next door, she heard two voices talking.

"So Kagome, did you figure out anything about Vestode yet?"

Kagome. It was Kagome that was in that room! Kikyo got to the front of the door and put her ear against it.

"Well, I found some things, Inuyasha. But I don't know if it's important," it was Kagome talking.

Kikyo's eyes widened. It was Inuyasha, one of the most famous captains. What was he doing talking to Kagome? Kikyo pressed her ear even closer to door. She wanted to hear what the two could be talking about.

"Let's hear it."

"Okay, so from the three books that I have looked at they pretty much all same things. He was a cruel pirate, blah, blah, blah. And then he mysteriously dies. The only thing I'm confused about is that our clue is just his name. What are we even looking for? Reading all these things… I just don't know to what to actually search for."

"I hate this. We have been doing is reading these books all day and how close are we to finding the treasure. As close as we were in the beginning."

The treasure, Inuyasha was talking about some treasure. Was it the same treasure that Naraku's parents had been searching for? How many treasures could be out there anyways? It had to be the same one, Kikyo decided.

"We have traveled very far! I first solved the riddle: 'All the sea you shall defeat/Never look too far/ the answer lies beyond/ 56-15 AD.' That got me to find chest on Ghost of the Seven Seas."

"You found that by accident, didn't you?" Inuyasha asked.

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter. Then after that I opened the chest and then I got the vile. And that was when I met you."

"Then we found this secret passage way in a saber shop and we found six words that translated into 'In Davey Jones' Locker lies he,' which lead to the Devil of the Seas, then changes into Vestode H. Fealis. How magnificent?"

Kikyo couldn't believe what she was hearing. She looked to her right and left, just to make sure no one was around. The treasure, it had to be the treasure. Kagome even talked about the chest that was on her ship.

"So we did go far," it was Kagome's voice.

"We're just solving clue after clue and we are getting no where." There was a crash in the room. Kikyo wandered what had happened inside the room.

"Don't just throw the book on the ground. What good is that going to do?"

"Kagome, I don't care. If you want to read more about Vestode H. Fealis, you can do it by yourself. But," there was a pause, "you have to tell me everything you find out tomorrow. Good night." He turned the lock.

"Night, Inuyasha," Kagome sighed.

Kikyo jumped. She couldn't be found here. She quickly darted down the stairs and into the storage room, as far away as she could get. The last thing she wanted was to be discovered.

Now Kikyo was going to have to think things over. She didn't want to kill Kagome tonight anymore, as she had planned before. Kagome was trying to solve the clues to get to the treasure. And as much as she hated to admit, treasure over Naraku and plus, the treasure was Naraku's in the first place, so she was doing him a favor by getting it for him. Killing Kagome would have to wait.

If she could, Kikyo was going to try to stay on this ship until it set sail tomorrow, and hopefully the treasure's location would be found by then. She would then kill Kagome and beat Inuyasha to the treasure. Everything would work out perfectly.

She would not be able to return to her crew tonight, hopefully they would still be waiting for her at the dock. And if they weren't, well, she didn't need them with the treasure that was soon going to be hers.

She heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Kikyo quickly ran behind some crates and hid herself. It was Kagome and another girl.

"What a day," Kagome said, sighing.

"Yeah, no kidding and now we have to sleep in this dirty cell again," the other girl said. She turned to a man that had just come down from the stairs. "And why, oh why, couldn't a regular pirate to open the cell, Miroku?"

"Because I love you, Sango," he winked at her, opened the two cell doors, and locked them up when they got in.

"Get out, Miroku," she sat with her back facing him.

"Sweet dreams," and he left the two.

Kagome and Sango talked for a bit more before they went to sleep. Kikyo tired, also slept on the cold, wooden floor.

In the morning, all three of the girls were woken up when they heard a voice yelling, "We found a stowaway!"

- $ -

Hey all, sorry if the romance is a little late, well, very late, didn't plan it to be this way, but with Kikyo in the scene, it may start now.


	9. Invective

A/N: Hey! Another chapter! Happy new years guys, '07! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

- $ -

**Invective**

_Noun – An angry, verbal attack_

- $ -

Kikyo watched as the men who screamed ran towards her. She looked right and left, but there was no way out, so she was stuck in a storage room with boxes surrounding her. They grabbed her by the arm violently.

"Let me go," Kikyo spat.

The men laughed, while taking a good look at her, "What's a girl like you doing on board?"

Without answering, she tried freeing herself from their grasps once again.

"Let's take her to the captain and see what we're going to do with her."

They pulled her forward, dragging her on the ground. She would not walk.

Kagome immediately stood up, wondering what was going on. As once, she saw a girl being pulled by two men; she was about her age, with straight black hair flowing passed her shoulders.

Kikyo, sensing someone staring at her, turned to look. There were two girls locked up in tiny cells, would that be her in a little while? She then realized that one of the girls looked familiar; it was Kagome, the one she had been searching for. Why was she locked up in a cell? Could she be a prisoner of Inuyasha? Anger ran through Kikyo's body. She wanted to strangle Kagome to death, make her suffer the pain she had cast upon Naraku.

She remembered what she heard yesterday, the treasure that Kagome and Inuyasha were talking about. Kikyo then realized that she could not kill Kagome at the moment; she had to get her hands on the treasure. When she lost Naraku, she lost everything. But now, the treasure could be hers, and she would have everything again.

The two men had dragged her across the bottom floor, as she was in deep thought. She stepped up the stairs willingly; she was going to see Inuyasha. How was she going to explain her reason aboard? She would have to find a way to have Inuyasha keep her on the ship, and not as prisoner. She had to find a way to grow close to Inuyasha.

They got in front of the door with the golden knob, it was Inuyasha's room. One of the men knocked quietly on the door; she could tell they were afraid of their own captain.

A voice came abruptly from behind the door, "Who is it?"

Stuttering, they replied, "Captain, we found a stowaway."

"Just plank them. How stupid can you guys be? Do you want me to plank you too? This is what we always do!" He yelled at his men for waking him up for such an unimportant issue.

Kikyo was bewildered; she had to do something fast. Why was he planking her? He didn't plank the two prisoners. "Please! Captain! I can work hard! Don't plank me!"

Laughter came from the other side, "It's a girl. How dare you talk to me like that? Do you know who I am? And who are you?"

"I'm Kikyo and you're Inuyasha, the captain of Angels and Demons, the best captain of the seven seas." Kikyo tried as hard as she could to make him at least open the door. She knew he had a big ego.

It worked. Inuyasha opened his door to see who the stowaway was. The men loosened their grips on her arm. Kikyo fell to the floor on her knees. She did not dare to look at his eyes; instead, she talked to his feet.

"Captain, please let me stay aboard," she pleaded, "I only wanted to start over."

Inuyasha looked at the girl kneeling in front of her. To start over, what did she mean? He then looked at his two men, how worthless they were. "You may leave now," he said at them. He then diverted his attention back to the girl.

"My parents," she started, making up the story as she went, "they died a while ago and left me and my sisters at a young age. We were so young, we could not support ourselves. Everywhere we went, they turned us down." Kikyo took in a deep breath, and then continued, "I finally found a place where they were willing to accept us, however, they only accepted my younger sisters, not myself, for I was too old, I was useless. I was left wandering the streets, searching for at least one meal a day. Every night, I would be on the streets, but could never fall asleep; the moon even seemed to frown upon me. No one cared for me and I had nothing for myself to live on."

Inuyasha stared at this girl, who seemed to be nearly in tears. He remembered what it was like when his parents had died, he was young. They left him nothing but the ship, at least it was something. This girl, however, her parents left her nothing but grief and burden.

"One day, I was walking aimlessly, with no where to go. Then, I heard two people talking, I couldn't help but listen. The two seemed to be pirates, talking about lives. How wonderful it sounded, the life I thought would be a fantasy. They talked about the sea and the adventure it brings; they were able to travel, they were able to loot and raid, they could gain all the riches they could possibly imagine. I was jealous of them; I did not have any of this. I had nothing else to live for, so I decided pursue this dream, this impossible vision."

Inuyasha could not help but feel sorry for the girl. He could really relate. His life as a pirate was carefree and he had everything he wanted, never a day would pass by when he was hungry and sad, he had his crewmates.

"The very next day, I went aboard a ship and asked for a job. They just turned me down; thinking a girl like me was useless. I went from one ship to another; my hope dwindled for them ever accepting me. Then, just yesterday, I heard that Angels and Demons was about to leave port. This was my only chance and I decided to take it. I climbed aboard late at night, I didn't want to be rejected again, and I didn't want to be turned away. Please, I will work hard and serve you, just let me stay."

For some reason, Kikyo's words touched Inuyasha's heart. He had never felt sorry for a person the way he did for her. After hearing her speech, he could not plank her.

"Well," he started, trying to find the right words, "I'm a nice person, and a polite captain."

For the first time, Kikyo lifted her head and looked into the man that had just spoken. His voice was stern, but she could sense compassion in it.

"You know, pirates usually do not do this, especially the captain. Do not disgrace me."

Kikyo quickly nodded.

He continued, "I'll make you a deal. If you're willing to serve your life on this ship, until death, then I will welcome you. Go down to the cells, you will be cleaning those and working with the prisoners."

Although Kikyo knew she was never going to serve him, his deal was good enough for her. She stood up and looked into his eyes. "Thank you captain, I will do my best."

Inuyasha then closed the door.

- $ -

Kagome yawned as she stepped out of her cell. She had been reading books all night about Vestode H. Fealis, and was awaken by a stowaway early in the morning. However, she did find out important information and was about to tell Inuyasha.

She walked through the already familiar halls, heading towards Inuyasha's room. She silently knocked.

"Who is it now?" the voice yelled angrily. He had not been able to have a moment to himself the entire morning.

He was in a bad mood again, Kagome took in a breath, hoping he would not yell at her some more. She was tired enough. "It's Kagome," she said as calmly as possible.

The door opened, revealing a captain with bags under his eyes. He yawned at the sight of her, "This better be important."

Kagome turned to leave.

"Wait!" Inuyasha grabbed her arm and swung her around, "you already woke me up, just tell me what you came to tell me."

She smiled, she knew he could not resist when it came to the treasure. Kagome slowly walked into his room, it was even messier than the night before.

She looked around the room for an empty seat to sit in. Taking her time, she took in the air of his room. Inuyasha was looking really annoyed, she decided to talk before he blew up on her, "Okay, well, I was reading all last night about Mr. Fealis."

Inuyasha almost laughed at the words that came out of her mouth, "Mr. Fealis? Who is he, your friend's father?"

"Whatever Inuyasha," Kagome continued, "Since _Mr. Fealis_ died at sea, his body was unable to be recovered to put into a real tomb."

"Didn't we go through this yesterday?" Inuyasha plopped onto his bed, looking up at the ceiling.

Kagome ignored his comment, "There are many memorial sites dedicated to him. However, the most famous one is at Pearl Island."

"What, you want to give a prayer or something."

Sighing, Kagome rolled her eyes, "Think about it, use your head for once. _Pearl _Island. The might be the place that the treasure is hid. Don't you think it's a little suspicious? It can't just be a coincidence."

"Yeah, I guess, but where is it exactly? I've heard of most famous islands, but this one, I've never heard of."

"From what the book said, it's a small island off the Coast of Sakejima Island. It was the place that Vestode H. Fealis was last seen, the city was demolished back when he was around, but now it's prospering because of him."

Inuyasha sat up from his bed, it all made sense; the treasure had to be there, "Kagome, did I ever tell you how useful you can be at times?"

Kagome knew that if it wasn't for her, he would be no where. Of course, she wasn't doing it for him; she was finding it for her grandpa. "Whatever, _captain_, I'll be going now."

Before she managed to get to the door, someone had knocked.

"Crap," Inuyasha muttered to himself. He did not want to be seen in the room with a girl, especially his prisoner, Kagome. "Hurry, go hide over there!" he yelled while pointing his finger under his desk.

"What? You want me to hide?" Kagome asked incredulously.

"Well, we don't want them to know about the treasure, do we?"

Another knock was heard. Inuyasha, without another word, shoved Kagome under his desk. 

"Who is it?" he screamed.

"It's me," a girl said softly from across the door.

Inuyasha vaguely remembered the voice. It was the stowaway girl.

He sighed and said bitterly, "I told you to clean."

"I have something to tell you, can you open the door?"

He had no choice but to slowly unlock his door. "Come in."

She came in without looking into his eyes, her head was bowed down. "I just wanted to say…" she stuttered.

"Spit it out already!" He snapped.

"I…uh…I…" She was trying to get on his good side, but was unsure of what to say.

"Hurry up! You're wasting my time!"

Kikyo had it, "Why are you so mean!"

"Excuse me? Do you know who you 're talking to?" Never in his life has Inuyasha been spoken to like this, especially from a girl.

"Yeah, I know who you are! But we're all pirates, you don't have to put yourself above us and scream like that!" She looked up into his eyes.

Inuyasha was lost at words.

"Everywhere I go people abuse me, physically, verbally. I thought this might be different, but you're all the same!" She walked towards him, "You think just by being captain you can do this to other people? But you know what? Look around you, open your eyes, you have no one, and no one wants you." She raised her hand slowly, she was about to slap him.

Before her hand reached his cheek, Inuyasha quickly snatched it. "You're the first girl that has ever said these bitter words to me," his tone was dropping; he held her hand in midair, thinking about the last words she said. She was right, he had no one, and no one wanted him. His parents had left him; he was alone in this world. He sighed, while letting go of her hand. It dropped limply against her side. Neither knew what to say.

Kagome held her breath, she saw everything. It was the girl from this morning. She had some nerves, and yet, Inuyasha allowed her to talk like that to him. She almost even slapped him! Who exactly was she?

After moments of silence, Inuyasha finally spoke. "Am I really what you said?" He asked her in just above a whisper.

Kikyo lowered her head, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said those things."

"No," he looked at her, "you're the first person that's ever been so truthful to me. I am what you said."

Kikyo studied his face, "Look around you, you have all the riches in the world. You can buy anything. But from the look on your face, there is one thing you can't buy, that is happiness. And because you don't have happiness, you make everyone around you miserable with your attitude of life."

Inuyasha knew she was right, she hit the spot. From the day his parents had left him, he had not been happy. He thought about her words. "I'll tell you what," he sighed again, "forget all the tasks I assigned you. From now on, you can live on this ship like any other pirate. Forget about your past, okay?"

Kikyo was stunned. Her head shot up with a gleeful smile. "Oh, thank you so much captain!" Her hands wrapped around his back unconsciously.

Inuyasha took a step back; he didn't know what to do. Her presence and words somehow made the way to his heart. It had softened him; he never knew he could be so kind. Inuyasha gently brushed off her arms. He looked straight in her eyes and smiled, "you can call me Inuyasha."

Kagome could not take it anymore. Watching him be so kind to a stowaway when he treated her ruthlessly the moment he got onto the ship. What was so special about her anyways? She couldn't control her temper any longer, and she slammed her fisted onto the wooden floor. It was too late, both Inuyasha and Kikyo turned their heads to the direction of the noise.

Inuyasha had forgotten Kagome was still hiding there. Why had she given away her hiding place? "Kagome! How dare you?" he said to her. Rage overtook him; he was not the same calm person that he was a few minutes ago. "What are you doing in here?" He had to pretend that they did not know each other. "You're my slave; did you sneak in here to steal my stuff? You know I was nice enough to keep you around and now you do this? I could have you dead right this instant!"

Kagome did not believe what he just said. He was accusing her of intruding when it was his idea in the first place to make her hide. "Inuyasha…" she felt tears gathering in her eyes, "I can't believe you…" Without another glance, she ran out the door.

- $ -

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this. We tried to add a little more romance this time, it's so hard to do! Please review and comment!


	10. Judgment

A/N: Yah! Another chapter. Thanks for all those who read this story. Enjoy

- $ -

**Judgment**

_Noun- the ability to judge, make a decision, or form an opinion objectively, authoritatively, and wisely_

- $-

Kagome ran blindly down the hall. She wanted the tears to stop coming. She shouldn't be feeling anything for Inuyasha. What was happening to her? She felt nothing for Inuyasha. All she needed to do was find the treasure for her grandpa and nothing else.

Her entire life, she had never been subdued to such low standards. She had been captain, not captive. Kagome collapsed to the floor of her cell. She told herself that she just couldn't let herself be this way. Her heart should no longer be able to feel emotion. The tears in her eyes dried and her heart turned to stone. She would not let anything interfere with her goal. She was going to strong and to be strong, she became emotionless.

- $ -

Kikyo and Inuyasha stood unmoving. Kikyo could not believe what just happened right before her eyes. Her heart felt like it was going to explode from her chest. She had accomplished getting close to Inuyasha and pushing Kagome and Inuyasha apart on her first day aboard, and she didn't even have to try.

"I'll be leaving now. Thank you." With those words, Kikyo left Inuyasha standing in the middle of his room.

Inuyasha watched as Kikyo left. Why was he so nice to her? He only met her this morning. Then his thoughts diverted to Kagome. Had he hurt her? And even if he did, why would he care. She was nothing more than a girl he used to get closer to the treasure. Right?

- $ -

Sango watched as her closest friend sat slumped over in the corner of the cell. She had been working from when the sun broke over the horizon till the moon reflected upon the calm waters, and all that time she had not seen Kagome work. Had she been sitting there the entire day? "What happened?" she asked.

Kagome looked up; she had completely forgotten about Sango. "Hey." She stopped. She didn't know what else to tell her friend. "Nothing's wrong. I just feel a little sick, that's all."

Sango could tell that her friend was lying. A couple of days ago, she had seen Kagome and Inuyasha together- talking. What was that about? "No, Kagome, something is wrong. Why aren't you telling me anything? Ever since we've gotten on this ship, you've closed up. What is going on with you and Inuyasha?" Sango could not believe the words that she just blurted out. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, not wanting to hear Kagome's reply.

Kagome stared at Sango. How did she know about her and Inuyasha? Does she know something about the treasure? "Are you accusing me with befriending the enemy? I hate him. What makes you think that we have any sort of relationship?" Kagome was deeply offended by Sango's remark. She tried to stop herself, but words kept pouring from her month. "You think that you have it bad. I have it way worse than you do. I don't want to deal with Inuyasha. What about you and Miroku? I've seen you two together more than I've been with Inuyasha."

"So you do admit that you and Inuyasha have been together?"

"No, we just had business to take care of. It was nothing. Stop from sidetracking from my question about you and Miroku."

Sango immediately looked down. She was blushing. "Oh, so I was right." Her mood had lifted.

"Don't you dare tell anyone!" Sango laughed.

- $ -

There was a rap on Inuyasha's door. Miroku swiftly entered. "We're going to be porting at Pearl Island in a few minutes. The island looks a bit deserted and small. Why did you want us to come here? There is nothing."

Inuyasha was not in the mood to be reminded of the treasure. Now that they were at the island, should he drag Kagome along? Or should he just do it himself. She probably wouldn't even be willing to go with him after what had just happened.

- $ -

Kagome closed her eyes trying to sleep. She could hear Sango across from her softly breathing.

Unexpectedly, the ship jerked. They must have ported. It suddenly hit Kagome. They were at Pearl Island. This had to be where the treasure was buried. The clues ran through her head. Everything fit so perfectly together. She got up from where she had been lying. The cell door had not been locked by the guard that night. She slowly pushed it open and then walked up the stairs. When she walked half way up the stairs, she could hear that the deck was filled with people. Their footsteps were rushing above her. She couldn't leave the ship like she had done previously before.

Kagome had an idea. She snuck around to the back of the ship and grabbed a long coil of rope. She tied one end of the rope to a railing and then dropped the rest of it over the side of the ship. Then as quietly as she could, she took a firm hold of the rope and lowered herself in the sea.

When she hit the water, her heart nearly stopped from the freezing water that was surrounding her. Her body shook from the instant change in temperature. She tried moving her arms and legs quickly to get to shore, but her arms and legs were frozen. It felt like a hundred needles were stabbed into her skin. She had to back to shore or else she would freeze to death.

With all her might, Kagome swam. The process was slow and Kagome saw her breath coming out in front of her. She was doing this for her grandpa.

As soon as Kagome got to shore, all she could do was curl up into a ball on the soft sand and shiver. Her trembling body could be heard for miles.

- $ -

As Inuyasha was lowering his row boat into the sea, he told his crew, "I'll be back in a couple of hours. We can continue sailing tomorrow morning. Everyone get some rest."

Once Inuyasha neared the Shore of Pearl Island, with his lit lantern, he got out of rowboat. He waved his lantern in front of him, a shadow caught his eye. He then heard chattering noises. There was someone sitting on the shore just a couple of feet away from him.

Without thinking, he walked toward the person. When he got closer, he noticed that the person was a girl. Her whole body was drenched and she was shaking violently. "Are you okay?" he asked with concern.

"I… I'm…fine," she responded, without looking up. She couldn't talk without stuttering. Something hit Inuyasha. He knew that voice, except at that instant, he couldn't remember who it was.

"Do I know you?" he asked stupidly.

The girl looked up. The lantern illuminated her face. She couldn't see the face of the person talking to her.

"Kagome?! What are you doing here? How did you get here? It's past midnight."

"Inuyasha?" Kagome said weakly.

"Kagome…" he didn't know what to say to her after those harsh words that he had said in his room. She was probably still mad at him.

"I… swam here…" She was no longer think straight any longer. Her vision was growing blurry and the light from his lantern made her dizzy. Before she knew it, her head hit the sand.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha panicked; she had just fainted. He quickly took off his jacket and wrapped it around her freezing body. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her. His mind was rushing. It was his fault that she was in this condition. He should have asked her to go with him. They had been working together to find the treasure…

He was walking towards his rowboat. He had to get her back to the ship and warm her. Her head rested against his chest. "I'm sorry Kagome," he whispered to her. When he got to the rowboat, he realized that he couldn't take her back. What would the crew think? They were already getting suspicious of Kagome being in his room. No, he would have to keep her here.

Inuyasha walked quickly inland. He found a soft a patch of grass near the forest and placed Kagome's limp body down. He placed the lantern by her side. His hand touched her face. It was burning.

"Kagome, this is all my fault. I know that you might not even forgive me, but… I didn't mean any of those things that I said to you. It just came out. I'm sorry. I don't hate you."

- $ -

A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short, but it was a good place to stop. And I hate to ask this, but please review!!


	11. Kismet

Sorry for the long update, school/sports/college preparation sucks; no, not really. Enjoy this chapter and try to read carefully.

Finding a good title for this chapter was so hard since it had to start with K…

- $ -

**Kismet**

_Noun – fate; destiny_

- $ -

The wind blew gently across Inuyasha's face. He kept his eyes completely on Kagome. His jacket was around her tightly, yet her body was still cold and her face was still burning. He had to find a way to dry her of her soaking clothes.

Everything things went wrong, it was because of him. This feeling of regret and longing swept over him like a rushing wave of water. Inuyasha had never felt this way. His actions never mattered. He never looked at the consequences; he just kept moving on with each day.

Quickly, he moved into the forest and gathered some dry branches and leaves for a fire. He gathered it into a small pile a couple feet away from Kagome and took the lantern's fire to set the twigs aflame. Soon the fire grew strong and Kagome began to stir.

Inuyasha looked over at her. "Kagome…" it came out as nearly a whisper.

Her limp body merely moaned. She did not have the energy to even open her eyes to respond to the voice.

"Kagome," Inuyasha spoke again- this time strong. He couldn't bear to see her in this agony. Even with the fire ablaze, Kagome's body still shivered.

Slowly, Kagome opened her eyes. She looked around slowly to take in the scenery. "What… happened?" she asked barely audible.

Inuyasha didn't know how to respond to this. Silence overcame them. "I found you on the shore," he finally answered her. "You were wet… You swam here, didn't you?"

During this time, Kagome had re-closed her eyes. The experiences rushed back to her. She had swam towards this island- what had she been thinking? The water was so cold. The clothes stuck to her, yet warmth was flowing through her. The fire illuminated in her face. She pushed herself up from the ground. Her legs were weak beneath her, and Inuyasha caught her before she fell.

"Thanks," She said, while trying to hide a small blush that overcame face. For the first time in her life, she actually appreciated his company. Inuyasha placed his hands around her waist and steadied her back down.

"I want to go look for the clue now. We don't have that much time till morning," Kagome said.

Inuyasha nearly had forgotten about the clue. Too many things had preoccupied his mind until now. "Are you sure you're okay? We can go back some other time. You're still weak."

Concern about her shocked Kagome. She had not expected such acts of kindness from Inuyasha, who was usually emotionless and bitter. "I'm fine. We need to find it. I've waited my entire life for this. And plus, the members of the crew would be wondering where I am in the morning."

Inuyasha nodded his head slowly in agreement. "Let's go then." He grabbed Kagome hand and eased her up. She walked slowly forward; each step was taken with care.

"Do you know where the memorial is?" Inuyasha asked, seeing that they were just waling aimlessly further and further into the forest.

Kagome stopped walking. Her sense of direction was lost. She didn't know if they were just walking in circles. "From what I read in the book, I believe that Vestode H. Fealis' memorial should be located directly in the center of this island."

"Well, that makes things easy." Inuyasha turned his face upwards. He looked for the North Star. The skies were clear and he found it with ease. "This way," he pointed his finger northward.

The forest was thick and walking through it became harder as they walked toward the center. Suddenly, a clearing ahead of them appeared.

Inuyasha and Kagome stopped at the clearing to take in the scene in front of them. There was one single stone fountain lay in the middle. The area had been cleared off all trees and wild flowers grew around the fountain in remembrance of Vestode H. Fealis. The clearing was in the shape of a circle and the fountain seemed to represent Vestode H. Fealis's glory. Unfortunately, there was no water. The fountain stood erect, lacking all emotion.

"What now?" she sighed. She walked over to the fountain to examine the plaque. It didn't look like anything but ordinary. The plaque merely read, "In honor of the Devil of the Seas. May his soul rest peacefully."

Kagome shook her head. "There isn't anything special about these words," Inuyasha commented from behind her.

"Maybe I made a wrong assumption about the last clue. Maybe we weren't supposed to go here. Maybe this is just a lost cause." Kagome seemed fatigued. She sat down. Nothing mattered. She wasn't even scared of Inuyasha getting angry. To her surprise, he wasn't.

"We can make this work. Where else would we have been able to go to find Vestode H. Fealis. This is the place. We just got here. Let's look around some more."

After several hours of provoking thoughts, the sun was just appearing above the horizon. "How about this," Inuyasha yawned, "we should go back to the ship, get some water and make this fountain work. There is nothing left here."

"I don't know how that would work…" her mind didn't seem to be functioning. The trees were spinning about her. She sat down again before she collapsed.

Inuyasha noticed that Kagome was trying to suppress her weakness. He walked towards her and placed his hand over her forehead. "You still have a fever. We should just go back to the ship. This can wait."

"No. Why don't you just go back and get some water. I'll be fine."

Somehow, Inuyasha didn't believe those words, but reluctantly he left her and jogged back to the shore. He fortunately had left a bucket in his rowboat in case he had gotten a leak. The bucket was of decent size, but he would still have to make a couple trips to fill up the fountain.

Inuyasha filled up the bucket and carefully ran back to the fountain. Just as he was going to empty the bucket into the fountain, two words caught his eye. There was an engraving at the bottom of the fountain.

It read: Protect thyself.

Kagome noticed his sudden behavior, "What's wrong?"

"The bottom of the fountain, it says 'protect thyself.'"

"Are we in some sort of danger?" Kagome asked cautiously, while looking around.

"I don't know…" he responded, "What kind of danger would we be in?" He then poured in the bucket of water, disregarding the words. The water merely filled a quarter of the fountain.

Quickly, he ran back to the ocean, got another bucket full of water and ran back to the fountain. After he poured the water into the fountain, he turned towards Kagome. Her eyes were focused on the ground instead of the fountain.

"It's leaking," she said in astonishment.

Inuyasha looked at where she was staring, there were three curves on the ground. "Great," he said, "now I have to fill it even more and faster."

With that said, he ran off. Kagome was still looking at the earth before her. The three curves were symmetrical, all curving the same way into the ground, towards her. She squinted her eyes.

After four more buckets, the fountain was full. However, the leaks did not stop, it kept going. Inuyasha stood by Kagome. The three streaks of line in the ground were now curving, making three identical circles. It became apparent what it said:

666

The two stood speechlessly, neither knew what to say. The number of the Devil lay across the ground in front of them. It was big and clear and the water shimmered with the sun.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Inuyasha asked without turning his eyes.

"I see it. 666."

"So protect thyself and the Devil's Number…we have to protect ourselves from the Devil!" He figured.

"And the devil is Vestode H. Fealis? This is nothing more than a circle. We're back to where we started when we figured out Mr.Fealis."

Both of them did not know what to do. However, their ship was leaving, they needed to go back.

"Why don't we figure this out at the seas?" Inuyasha suggested.

"Okay," she nodded. He helped her stand up, but she fell into his arms again. Without thinking, he scooped her up into his arms and started walking back to the ship.

"Thanks," she smiled. He merely nodded. She was too weak to refuse his act of kindness.

As they neared the ship, Inuyasha tried to think of many ways of how he and Kagome could get onto the ship at the same time, without anyone getting suspicious. Many pirates had already seen him and Kagome together within these past weeks, which caused some questioning and rumors. However, he merely stopped the rumors before they got too far.

Inuyasha put her gently onto his rowboat and slowly rowed it to his ship.

Kagome gazed at the starry sky. "So, what are you going to say to them about me?" She asked without looking at him.

"Don't worry about it," he answered and smiled.

It was the first time Kagome saw his smile.

- $ -

If any of you guys read this chapter carefully enough. 'Protect thyself' has nothing to do with the fountain, but does have something to do with 666 and the history of it. That was a big hint. Have fun and please review. Thanks!


	12. Longanimity

Hey guys, another chapter. Sorry for the wait. Incase you forgot what happened last chapter, here's a recap: Kagome and Inuyasha wandered around the island for the next clue, Kagome being sick. They get to the center of the island and there's a fountain. After filling the fountain, 666 appears on the dirt. They sneak back onto the ship.

Hope you enjoy this one, although Lilypad and I have no idea why we wrote it…

- $ -

**Longanimity**

_Noun - Patient endurance of hardship, injuries, or offense; forbearance_

- $ -

Kagome slowly opened her eyes. Sun was pouring into the room through the window. Her head hurt a bit and her vision was still blurry.

"Where am I?" she mumbled, not noticing that Inuyasha's head rested at her bedside- asleep on chair by the bed.

Inuyasha quickly woke with a start. "Kagome," he reached for her forehead to check if she still was running a fever. "Your head is still hot, let me go get a cloth and soak it in hot water." With those words, Inuyasha got up and stumbled out the door, trying to wake himself.

Kagome now remembered what had happened. It was close to morning when they had gotten back on the ship and many of the crew members were asleep. Only Miroku had seen them board the ship and Inuyasha had whispered something to him and they had proceeded to this empty room.

The room merely contained a bed and nothing more. Kagome ran her hand over the spot where Inuyasha's head had been- right next to hers. Her heart felt something for him, but she couldn't let these feelings become any stronger. She was a pirate and she was only going to use him for the treasure, like how he was only using her for the treasure.

With a cloth in his hand, Inuyasha reappeared and placed in on her head. The cloth felt good on her burning forehead.

"Thank you, Inuyasha," she said with sincerity and then continued in a different tone, "I'm not usually this weak."

"Well, you are a girl," he teased and then changed the subject before they could get into an argument. "What could it mean… 666 and 'Protect thyself'… there has to be some sort of connection…" he was thinking aloud, hardly noticing Kagome's presence.

"Already thinking about where the clue would lead next," Kagome mused.

"Aren't you thinking wondering? It seemed that the treasure was going to be on the island, and we find that we are just merely a step closer. Is there really an end to it all?" Inuyasha asked in frustration. All his life, it had been to look for the treasure- to wonder about its existence, to find the clues- and now they were just too close.

After some thought, Kagome responded, "I think it has to do with some religious practice. 666 is the Devil's number and religions usually protect their followers from the devil and state that they will help them in gain passage to a better world when they die if they live within good morals. Some of the members on my crew were religious and used to tell me to convert, but I never found that it was appealing and neither did my grandpa. We lived abiding by the pirate codes and in moral boundaries that we found suitable. There was no reason to take time in learning of all the religious rules and guidelines, but maybe to break this clue, we'll need that knowledge."

It made perfect sense. Why hadn't he thought of that, pondered Inuyasha. Miroku was one of the closest people to him and one of the most religious pirates in all of the seas. Miroku had been a monk before a pirate, but had quit for reasons that seemed very unclear to Inuyasha.

"I think you're right, Kagome," he said with a wide smile on his face.

Nodding, Kagome answered, "We should ask someone when we get to the next island." Her voice was drifting and her eyes closed again. "I don't feel that well… My entire body is freezing and my head is burning…" Kagome had suppressed all this in the beginning, thinking that she was going to feel better soon, but with every second that passed, it seemed that she was only growing weaker.

Inuyasha took the cloth off her forehead. The cloth was warm and it had only been on her forehead for a couple of minutes. "Get some rest. We're going to port as soon as possible. I'm going to take you to the doctor."

"Ok…" Kagome said softly before drifting to sleep again.

"I'm sorry," Inuyasha said, but Kagome didn't hear him.

- $ -

After soaking the cloth in cool water and replacing it on Kagome's forehead, Inuyasha found Miroku in his room to tell him that they would have to port again.

"Again? Why are we taking on these different courses? There is something going on with you and Kagome… isn't there?" Miroku asked him with suspicion, raising his eyebrow.

"Kagome's sick and she needs to see a doctor," Inuyasha said without blinking an eye. He was not going to tell Miroku anything. In all honesty, there was nothing going on with him and Kagome. She just… made him a softer person when he was around her.

"Fine, captain. We'll go to Sapphire Island. We'll get there in just a few hours. It should be a decent sized island." Miroku was in no position to anger Inuyasha. He was the captain and if he didn't want to say anything, then it was left at that.

After moments after wondering how to word the question, Inuyasha decided to ask, "Last night… I had a dream. There was the number 666 that appeared and the Devil was behind it, ready to kill me."

"Are you feeling okay?" Miroku reached for Inuyasha's forehead. Inuyasha swatted it away and Miroku laughed. "A dream, right… So you see the Devil's number and the Devil, that's not a good combination. Have you done something wrong? Is your conscience after you?" Miroku asked mysteriously, causing Inuyasha's temper to rise even further.

"I haven't done anything wrong!" he practically screamed at his crew mate. "I'm the best captain in all of the seas, now if you know something that deals with my dream then tell me."

Walking over to his book case, Miroku quickly scanned the books for one in particular. He pulled out a small blue leather covered book. There was dust over it and he blew it off before opening it. It took him several minutes to locate the verse that he was looking for, and at long last, he cleared his throat and read it to Inuyasha.

"Revelations, chapter thirteen, and verse eighteen: Here is wisdom. He, who has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is six hundred sixty-six."

After Miroku read the lines in the Bible he looked up at Inuyasha's reaction; his face was blank. "I lost you, didn't I?" He sighed. Inuyasha was not the most religious person. In fact, he was not religious at all.

"Yeah, I have no idea what that means." Inuyasha sighed.

"Well, I'm not the one who should be explaining it to you. But why are you so interested in this all of the sudden? I've known you almost my whole life and you've never been scared of some crazy nightmare." He raised an eyebrow, something was definitely wrong, but Miroku wasn't going to pressure him.

"Give me that," Inuyasha snatched the Bible from Miroku's hands and before he could protest, Inuyasha walked away. In his room, Inuyasha flipped aimlessly through the Bible. However, he did not get anymore reference about the number 666. The only lines he read about it were completely useless and meaningless. Finding the treasure was getting too complicated.

- $ -

"I have been looking all over for you. You have been missing for a day, do you know that? And the next thing I see, you're in a room, sitting on a bed, and you didn't even bother telling me? What is going on with you? It seems like you…" Sango was going off without stop. She had asked every single crew member where Kagome was and they did not know.

Kagome cut her off. "Listen, I'm really sorry, Sango," she said slowly, but from the look on her face, sorry was not enough. "Things have just been…crazy lately. I don't even know how to explain it."

Sango sighed, "I'm your best friend; you can tell me anything."

"It's so complicated; I wouldn't even know where to start." Truthfully, Kagome did not want to tell Sango about the treasure. It was between her and her grandfather, and of course Inuyasha.

"Well, I don't have anything better to do." Sango pulled a chair from the desk and sat next to Kagome's bed. Before anyone could say anything Sango noticed that Kagome's eyes were drooping and her face was flushed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just a little sick," she responded with a sigh.

- $ -

Kikyo was walking down the hallway towards Kagome's room. She had been wondering where Kagome and Inuyasha had gone the previous night without ever telling anyone. It was just about an hour ago that she found out from one the crew members where Kagome was staying and that she was sick.

In her arms, Kikyo carried a basin filled half way with water. She tapped softly on the door and heard another girl's voice from within.

"Who are you?" Sango asked in suspicion as she opened the door. There was something about the girl that stood in the hallway that reminded her of someone. Sango knew this girl…

Kikyo recognized Sango immediately. They had fought briefly when Ghost of the Seven Seas and attacked Rolling Thunder. "I'm Kikyo. I was the stowaway, remember? I came to see how Kagome was doing. It was Inuyasha's orders," Kikyo lied.

Sango stepped aside to let Kikyo walk in a sit herself by Kagome. She placed a white cloth in the water slowly and rung it out- folding it neatly upon Kagome's forehead.

"Thank you," Kagome said softly. Inuyasha had asked Kikyo to care for her? She didn't understand that reasoning behind his motives.

"Does that feel a little better?" Kikyo asked in a voice of concern, "I heard that the ship is about to port soon. You'll be able to see a doctor then. Your fever is awfully high; how did you get so sick? Was it the cold nights?"

Kagome nodded slowly. "Yeah, sleeping on the cold stone floors. My body has been weak lately."

Knowing it wasn't the truth, Kikyo continued on, trying to make conversation. "We're the only girls on the ship; I feel that you two are the only ones that I can talk to here."

Sango still stood in the back of the room; watching over Kagome and Kikyo. She couldn't understand what Kikyo was trying to do.

"All three of us are outsiders on this ship and we're not treated as equal members of the crew. And since we're girls we have to subdue to the captain wishes and we must be prisoners for the rest of our lives. I wanted a place where I can build myself up upon, but I don't think I've found it." Kikyo said as if ready to cry.

Kagome's heart softened for the girl that sat in front of her. "Kikyo, I know how it feels. My grandfather left this world when I was just a young child. I had to learn to grow up fast and protect myself. But now that there is the three of us here, we'll take care of each other, okay?"

Kikyo smiled at this and wiped away the fake tear on her face. "You better get some rest now then. I don't want to bother you any longer. I'll leave the water here so you can wash the cloth."

After Kikyo had walked out of the room, Sango quickly approached Kagome. "Don't sleep just yet, Kagome."

"Hm?" Kagome said with her eyes closed. Her whole body longed to be recharged.

Sango didn't know how to word it. She didn't even know if her feelings were completely off or not. "Kikyo… she has some motive behind talking to you."

"I know… and I want to know what it is." Kagome smiled at her friend and fell quickly asleep.

Instead of taking care of her friend, Sango thought about Kikyo. Something was not right. She got out of her seat and walked out of the room, pondering. "I've seen her somewhere," she muttered to herself, "but where? This is killing me."

Before she knew it, her head slammed into a door. And right at that second the door opened slowly. A head popped out from the crack of the door; it was none other than Miroku. He smirked, "You came to see me?"

"No…" she started, but then remembered that he probably knew about Kikyo. "Yes actually, I came to see you."

"Come in?" He opened the door all the way and stepped to the side.

"Let me just make this quick," Sango said seriously, "There is this girl Kikyo and I thought that you…" Her thoughts were cut off as her eyes drifted below his face. She couldn't help but start laughing. "What are you wearing?" she pointed, while trying to seize her laughter.

Immediately, Miroku grabbed her hand and dragged her inside, closing the door tightly and locking it. "Since you know about this," he whispered in her ears, "you're coming with me."

"Coming where?" Sango asked softly in-between her giggles.

"Church of course," He grinned at her, "we're porting right now."

- $ -

And that's it! Next chapter will be out in about a week and it'll be good…hopefully. Thanks for reading! (Review…cough)


	13. Mystique

Enjoy!

- $ -

**Mystique**

_Noun – a framework of doctrines, beliefs, etc., constructed around a person or object and lending enhanced value or meaning_

- $ -

After a few hours, Kagome's body was slowly regenerating itself. She felt like herself again. With the new energy, Kagome sat up from bed and slowly got out. She walked around the room, examining what now replaced her cell. The room was not big or small; it was a simple square. On one side lay her bed and diagonally from it the door. On the right side was another bed for Sango and across from that was a desk. The room was simple and neat.

Smiling to herself, she put the chair where Sango was sitting back under the bed. And suddenly, there was a tapping on the door.

"Sango?" she asked, not expecting anyone else.

Instead, the door opened, revealing Inuyasha. "I saw Sango walk off with Miroku, no idea where they went." He walked into the room without permission and looked around. "This place is kind of small, you sure you can survive?" He mocked. Compared to Inuyasha's room, the place was almost as big as his bathroom. "But, it's better than your cell right?" He smirked.

Kagome was about to thank him, but he was back to being his ignorant self. "Whatever," she muttered, "What are you here for anyways?"

"Well," he said while walking around the room. He was examining the walls, avoiding eye contact, "we just ported."

"Okay…"

"So I thought you could go see a doctor," he looked at her.

Kagome was surprised. She knew Inuyasha had said that to her early in the morning, but she didn't take it seriously. Pirates were not supposed to see doctors; they dealt with it; they were not weak. What made him want her to see a doctor? "I'm fine, Inuyasha," she answered.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow, "You don't look fine."

"Well, I am," she challenged.

"Listen, what happened yesterday night was…all my fault. And if you die right now, well…I don't want that to happen."

Kagome was shocked. Did he just apologize?

"…if you ever die, you die in a sword fight against me, okay?" He smirked.

Kagome laughed, "Whatever, I can beat you any day. Let's go."

When they got to the deck, Inuyasha's crew was sitting around, talking to one another and playing cards. All of the men sat over lazily, yelling at each other when they lost and sipping rum the entire time. The noise ceased momentarily when they noticed that Inuyasha was standing before them.

"Put your hands behind your back," he whispered in her ears. It was a familiar routine to both of them to do every time they wanted to get off the ship. However, this time it did not work. One of Inuyasha's men stood at the exit, blocking their way.

"Tiruko, I'm just making her carry my stuff, get out of the way." Inuyasha said impatiently. Tiruko was one of the best gunners in his crew; he wasn't scared of the captain, for they both respected each other.

"Why do I always see you with her, especially when we reach an island?" He looked at Kagome carefully.

"Because she's the slave," Inuyasha replied casually.

"You know you can get any one of us to carry the stuff. We can probably carry three times more than her." Tiruko challenged. He had suspicions about the captain and this new girl for awhile now, and he wanted the reason to it all.

"She's stronger than you think," words slipped out of his mouth. Inuyasha could not believe he had said that. He wasn't thinking straight…he would have to just avoid the issue and get off of the ship.

"Oh, so now you're defending her?"

"Whatever, we're going." He shoved himself and Kagome passed his gunner and off the ship. They finally reached land. The little town on Sapphire Island was a very busy place. The streets filled with people buying vegetables, meat, and bread. They were side by side, rushing to go somewhere. No one could see five feet in front of them.

"I think the doctor is that way," Inuyasha started walking towards a random direction, shoving through hundreds of people just to get twenty feet ahead. Kagome had no choice but to cling onto his arms.

"Don't let go and get lost, because we'll leave without you!" he turned around and yelled to her above everybody's voices.

"Maybe I'll do that on purpose then!" She yelled back, and then smiled innocently at him.

After what seemed like hours, they finally reached a little brick house. In front of it was a sign that said: Jalmm's Pharmacy. There was a chimney on the roof of the house and little puffs of smoke came out of it, giving an unpleasant smell of herbs.

"Ew," Kagome plugged her nose, "We have to go in there?"

"I guess," he took in a deep breath and together, they opened the door. Behind the door was a tiny room, dimly lit with no windows. There was a table in the center with two chairs, one on each side. The walls were lined with book shelves that contained hundreds of books, neatly stacked next to one another.

"Anyone there?" Inuyasha called.

After a few minutes, footsteps were heard entering the room. "Ah, another customer." An old man with a white beard slowly walked into the room. He had oval glasses just on the brim of his nose, and he was wearing a dark blue robe.

Kagome eyed Inuyasha. He merely nodded, trying to reassure her. However, he wasn't even sure what the old man was supposed to be. Doctors were usually not like this. He only ported at Sapphire Island because it was the closest place with civilization, and they had a map of the area.

"Sit down, sit down." He pulled a chair from his side of the table and gestured for Kagome to sit on the other side. She did. He continued, "I was experimenting and making one of my newest medicines, so I did not hear you two."

Kagome nodded, trying to smile.

"So what brings you here today?" He asked.

"Well," Inuyasha cut in, he was standing in the back of the room, "she is sick so I thought you could…"

"Speak no more child," he raised his hand in the air for Inuyasha to stop, "I see your sickness. It is very curable, very curable indeed. Now let's see…" With that, he rose from his chair and walked into the room he came out of.

Kagome fidgeted in her chair. "Are you sure about this, Inuyasha?" she hissed at him.

He nodded quickly. "You're going to fully recover and be strong enough to find the treasure. I don't want to be taking care of a sick girl anymore." He laughed.

She glared at him and before she could retaliate the old man reappeared in the room. In his arms he carried several oddly shaped jars and began pouring the contents out into a small oval bowl.

"My dear, you have been exposed to the cold and your fever is still present," he brushed his hand over her forehead, "you are strong so you are able to subdue it, but these herbs will have your body recover even faster."

"I told you, Kagome," Inuyasha said with his arms crossed over his chest.

After the man had placed all of the herbs in the bowl, he began to pound on it- forming a soft powder. He walked to the far side of the room and dipped a cup into the kettle filled with boiling water. He added a bit of the herb powder and blew on the water to cool it before handing it to his patient.

Kagome lifted it to her mouth slowly. The aroma of the herbs reached her before she was able to drink it. Kagome almost choked. The taste was awful.

Inuyasha chuckled. "Come on, Kagome, I thought you were stronger than that."

Fuming, Kagome drank the contents in the cup in a single gulp. When she lowered the cup, her face showed an expression of true disgust.

The man smiled at her approvingly. "Now you just drink these herbs with hot water for another two night and your body should have regained its energy."

Kagome nodded slightly- not wanting to drink it again. Inuyasha paid the old man several gold coins and they left the small shop.

"Remind me to never go to a doctor again," Kagome said as soon as they were outside.

Inuyasha shook his head, "My good intentions?"

- $ -

Miroku had led Sango to the largest building in the entire city. People were moving in quickly and talking in whispers. The interior was decorated in candles that illuminated the beautiful paintings upon the wall. At the head of the church sat a man in a white cloak. Rows upon rows of people were already seated. "Right here is good," Miroku whispered to Sango once they got to the middle of the church.

After waiting a few more minutes for the session to start, the priest stood up and the whispering ceased almost immediately. The priest at the head of the church was going on and on for what seemed like forever to Sango about the moral values that one must always have and how to protect oneself from the evils the lurk around us everyday. Perfectly erect, Miroku was sitting unmoving besides Sango- listening intently.

Sango yawned softly and closed her eyes, letting the words surround her. Suddenly, a hand was on her shoulder. "Sango, wake up. I can't believe you feel asleep during that." Miroku sounded very offended.

"I'm… sorry." Sango rubbed her eyes. She probably had fallen asleep sometime during the ceremony. Miroku quickly pulled her up by the arm and led her out the door with all of the other members of the church.

Just before they left the church an old woman placed a necklace over their heads. "Thank you," they both said.

The sun was shining brightly outside and the stream of people from the church populated the streets below. "What is this," Sango held the yellow triangle on the string that the woman had just given her.

"It's supposed to protect you from all evils, my dear Sango." Miroku smiled at her. "If you had been listening to the priest, you would have known."

Sango quickly took it off her, ready to fling it behind her. "I don't need anything to protect me- especially not a little yellow piece of paper."

He grabbed the amulet from her hand swiftly and placed it around her neck once again. "Think of it as good luck then."

Reluctantly, Sango tucked the amulet beneath her clothing. It felt warm upon her bare chest, and she felt spirit watching over her for the first time in her life.

- $ -

Inuyasha and Kagome walked silently next to each other down the busy streets. Kagome still carried the herbs in her hands. Although she respected the doctor, she was not going to drink the medicine everyday. Her body would heal by itself on its own time.

"Where to next?" She turned to look at him.

"I don't know. Maybe we should buy something so they don't catch us in our lie." He sighed. The crew was starting to catch on to him and Kagome. He had heard many gossips and rumors about the two going around the crew.

Just before they were going to enter a shop, Kagome spotted someone familiar. "Sango!" She yelled.

Surprised, Inuyasha turned the same way. It was Sango and Miroku. The two quickly shoved through the crowd and walked towards them.

"What are you two doing here?" Inuyasha asked suspiciously. Before they had a chance to answer, he looked at Miroku and snickered, "And what are you wearing?"

Sango couldn't help but laugh, "Miroku dragged me to church."

Inuyasha smirked, "Why is it that every time we port, you always want to go to church? I don't understand. What's so good about it?" Finally, Inuyasha saw a pendant hanging on Miroku's neck. His eyes opened. "What is that?" he asked in nearly a whisper.

"Oh, we got it from church," Miroku answered simply.

Inuyasha's hands shot up to his chest and grasped a piece of metal that lay underneath his shirt.

- $ -

So, we hope we didn't offend anyone with the church thing, because we tried to make it as uninvolved as possible.

Thanks for reading!


	14. Nemesis

Ok, so incase you guys forgot everything that happened in this story, recap!

Kagome's grandfather leaves her a poem clue to find a treasure. She fights Naraku's ship and wins the battle. She finds a chest on his ship and is able to open it with the poem's clue. She finds a vile and a map in the chest. Inuyasha now takes advantage of her and defeats her ship, taking her and Sango captive. Inuyasha's crew, Angels nor Demons, stop at an island to restock. He forces Kagome to go with him to a saber shop, and Kagome notices it is the same as the one on the map. She goes back during the night, not knowing that Inuyasha is following her. She finds a secret room and learns that the vile shows a message on the wall. From this point on, Inuyasha and Kagome start to work together to find the treasure. He has a chest in his room that contains a book of old pirate language; he encodes the message on the wall which reads: In Davey Jone's locker lies he. This then leads to them finding that Davey Jone's memorial is on an island. They go there and find the memorial. There is a fountain and they fill it with water. The fountain leads into '666' and 'protect thyself' was engraved on the bottom of the fountain. Inuyasha and Kagome then go back to shore and finds Miroku and Sango wearing a pendant around their necks.

And, Kikyo is involved in this, but the plot is way too long to explain her. So…enjoy this chapter!

- $ -

**Nemesis**

_Noun – a source of harm or ruin _

- $ -

"Look at what my mother gave me," a young Inuyasha had cried out to his friends.

All the children giggled at him. "What!" the young boy screamed.

Laughing, a boy responded, "Necklaces are only for girls." Everyone broke out in laughter now. Inuyasha turned away from them, tucking it deep beneath his clothes. He felt the cold metal upon his chest- a sense of protection from his mother and also a feeling a shame and weakness.

- $ -

Inuyasha's hands held the metal tightly. A rush of emotion swept over him. He remembered when his mother placed it over his head, how his friends laughed, and how he had felt an obligation all these years to wear it with him always.

"Is that supposed to protect you from evils?" Inuyasha finally asked Miroku who was looking curiously at him.

"Yes, they are. Is everything okay? Why are you clenching your heart?"

Kagome looked worriedly at Inuyasha. There was something that she seemed to be missing. The pendants that hung around Sango's and Miroku's necks- they had to be of some bigger significance.

Suddenly, Inuyasha grabbed Kagome's arm and pulled her away from Sango and Miroku.

"Look." He pulled his metal pendant from underneath his clothes.

Slowly, Kagome raised her hand to touch it. It felt cold and smooth. The engravings were light and hard to make out. "Why do you have this?"

Inuyasha shoved it underneath his shirt before he spoke. "When I was young, my mother gave it to me after I was hurt. She said it would be there to protect me from all harms and give me the strength to fight the obstacles that I would face later on in life," his voice was full of emotion, "I had worn it ever since."

'To protect' the words resounded in her ears. "Do you think that this…"

"has something to do with the treasure?" Inuyasha finished for her. He was hoping that she would come to the same conclusion once he showed her it.

Kagome nodded. "Protect thyself… Do you know what your pendant means, with all those numbers?"

Inuyasha looked up towards the sky. He had been wondering what it meant every since he got it. However, no conclusion has come. These were the numbers on the amulet:

6 . 32 . 3 . 34 . 35 .1

7 . 11 . 27 .28 . 8 . 30

19.14 . 16 .15 . 23.24

18.20 . 22 . 21 .17.13

25.29 . 10 . 9 . 26.12

36 . 5 . 33 . 4 .. 2 . 31

Both in deep thought, they were interrupted by Miroku and Sango. They had completely forgotten about them. "What are you two whispering about over here?" Miroku asked slyly, eyeing Inuyasha.

They both rolled their eyes and answered in unison, "nothing." With that, they both turned and headed back towards the ship.

"What is going on between those two?" Sango whispered to Miroku, as they followed them.

"I don't know, but let's find out."

- $ -

As they boarded the ship, many of Inuyasha's crew members were glaring at Kagome. They did not know why the captain was with her everyday. He treated her differently and she was only a captive. Could it be that he has fallen in love with this slave? Would she change the way he operated and ordered the crew? Love was blinding him from his goals, his aspirations. The crew had to do something about it.

They had set sail. After a few hours, they were well on their way to raid the next island. "Captain, there is a ship ahead!" One of the lookouts yelled.

Inuyasha smirked, "load the cannons! I miss the action."

The crew was in a hustle preparing for battle. Inuyasha looked out through his telescope, the ship was a decent size, but it shouldn't be a tough battle. He saw the faces of the other ship members; they had fear in their eyes, for they knew they could not back down on this battle. Angels nor Demons was now the most feared crew in the oceans, since Rolling Thunder and Ghost of the Seven Seas were now gone.

Just as he was going to give out orders, Kikyo appeared from behind his back, looking scared. "What's going on?" she said, her voice filled with anxiety.

He turned around to face her. She was a peasant girl, obviously inexperienced in sword fighting. "Listen," he said, "do you remember where you slept that night that we found you?"

She merely nodded.

"I want you to go there and hide yourself; don't come out until I get you. Everything's going to be okay, you don't have to worry."

"Just don't get hurt, okay?" With that, she left.

"Inuyasha!" he heard his name once again.

"What is it now?!" he hated getting interrupted while preparing for battle.

"Do you know who we're fighting?" It was Kagome. She walked up towards him, holding her sword tightly.

"It's nothing to worry about, an average crew. Are you gonna be fighting?" He eyed her clenching the sword.

"Of course, I…" Kagome stopped herself from continuing. She suddenly realized that it would be the first time she would fight for another crew: the crew that had captured her and defeated her grandfather's ship. Should she fight for them?

Inuyasha knew what Kagome was thinking. "You don't have to fight if you don't want to," his voice softened.

However, Kagome shook her head, "no, I'm part of this crew now."

As the two ships were getting closer, everyone was scrambling to finish preparing for battle. Miroku had directed the ship to become parallel with the opposing ship. Cannons shots were fired from Angels nor Demons, making the opponent tremble. The enemy shot back with less force, but still enough to penetrate the strong frame of Inuyasha's ship. The other vessel was beginning to sink. The two ships collided; crew members from the opposing ship were jumping on left and right. It was time to fight.

Swords clashed immediately. Sounds of yelling could be heard throughout the ship.

Miroku ran out of his navigation room, pulling out his sword. Without delay, he dodged a strike and countered it by slashing his blade across the neck.

Sango was intensely engaged in a fight with another female pirate. She saw Miroku from the corner of her eye; he came from behind and stabbed the pirate from the back. She fell limply to the ground.

"Thanks," she said.

"Count on me to save you from all harm," he said dreamingly.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes. All sincerity was drained from her voice. They fought against the seemingly endless pirates together.

Kagome was backed into a corner, three pirates were on her. She could feel the strain on her arm, for she had just injured it about a week ago. It hindered her quick movements and prevented her from harming the enemy. The three pirates were getting closer now, walking slowly, with their blade in hand. This was it. There was nothing else she could do there was nowhere she could run to.

She closed her eyes as the pirate drew his sword. Her life flashed before her eyes like a silent movie. However, the blow never came. She opened her eyes quickly, bringing herself back to reality. Inuyasha stood before her; two of the pirates fell to the ground. He was still fighting the other one. Kagome quickly regained herself in order to aid him.

Hearing chaos from above deck, Kikyo silently walked up the steps to watch what had happened. Curiosity got the most of her. Above deck, she smelled blood in the air. Kikyo crept forward even more to see where Inuyasha was. She saw him running towards Kagome and swinging his sword left and right in order to get to her before the other pirates did. The last thing Kikyo wanted was for Inuyasha to fall in love with Kagome.

Kikyo took a dagger from her boots; she was going to help Inuyasha and show him that she can fight. If he would see her intentions, Inuyasha was bound to like her and tell her about the treasure. She would have to gain his trust: the only way was to risk her life and save his. Kikyo ran towards Inuyasha.

Kagome gripped her sword as tight as she can and swung it with full force, the wound on her arm did not matter. Making a full rotation, she swung the sword and slashed the pirate across the back. Before she realized who was standing beside her, she let her sword continue in its momentum. A chilling cry was heard.

Kagome gasped, dropping her sword. Inuyasha seemed just as astonished. Kikyo lay upon the deck, her arm badly bleeding.

"What have you done?!" Inuyasha yelled towards Kagome, who was speechless. He quickly scooped her up and ran below deck, leaving Kagome to defend by herself.

She picked up her sword and continued fighting along side the crew members, her conscience not leaving her. She hadn't meant to swing at Kikyo, she would have never thought of hurting anyone part of the crew.

Inuyasha lay Kikyo down on his bed, taking a shirt from the floor and ripping it up to tie around her left arm. Blood soaked it immediately. Tears were rolling down Kikyo's eyes silently.

"I told you to stay below deck," he said calmly, while wrapping more cloth around her arm.

"I…just wanted to protect you," she said, while crying. The dagger was still in her right hand.

"I was fine," he muttered, "just stay put, you will be fine, and the bleeding should stop." He left her in his room and went on deck to finish the battle.

When he got back up on deck, the opposing crew was slain. Everyone was dead. He saw Kagome by herself, sitting in a corner. Her head was buried in her knees; she sat crunched up in a ball.

"Throw all these bodies overboard!" He ordered the crew, "Good job everyone! Sango and Miroku, go over there and get all their booty before it sinks!"

He slowly walked towards Kagome, not knowing what to say. She had a few cuts and bruises on her arms and legs, her clothes were tattered. Her sword lay by her side, stained with blood.

"Kikyo's fine," he said.

Kagome jerked her head up, she looked into his eyes. "I didn't mean to…I didn't mean to hurt her."

Inuyasha sighed, "I know."

With that, he left her, picking up bodies and throwing them overboard.

- $ -

Soon after the bodies were removed and the deck was swept, a feast broke out within the crew. There was dancing, singing, food, and of course – rum. Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen. Kagome was standing at the head of the ship, looking out into the vast ocean. A gentle breeze blew across her face.

All of the sudden, she heard footsteps behind her. A hand grabbed her from behind, pulling her vest, she fell backwards.

"Don't try to be part of this crew," a pirate hissed at her.

"You're nothing but a mere captive," the other slurred.

"And stay away from Inuyasha," one of the pirates threw his rum bottle at her. Missing, the glass shattered right by her face. A few pieces cut through her skin. Blood crept down her face.

Kagome, knowing they were drunk, tried to get out of their grip. Unfortunately, there was too many of them. She couldn't get away.

"Leave me alone!" she screamed as loud as she could.

But, they didn't. The pirates kept inching in closer and closer, grabbing her clothes and trying to tear it off. Kagome punched the first guy in the face. He staggered backwards.

"How dare you! You filthy wrench!"

With that, the other pirates came to his defense, hitting her to the ground. She could not even defend herself. Blood was coming out of her mouth. She crumpled into a ball, hoping the pain would stop. Before she knew it, her vision blurred and soon everything turned black.

- $ -

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please review!


	15. Oppugnancy

Lilypad: The both of us are truly sorry for such a long delay in the postings of this story. We have had a writer's block for quite some time and no braining storming has resolved anything. We had started this story with really great visions and we hope to see them through in our slow creation (devl: Hey that rhymed!) Hopefully with this chapter we'll soon be able to continue more rapidly in our writing. Thank you for staying with us through thik and thin!

Devl: Alright, so far our main characters are still trying to figure out the meaning of the 666 clue. If we offend anyone with these numbers or any religious perspectives, we are truly sorry. We wrote it from a literature perspective, not anything that would offend anyone. And a heads up, the clues will have nothing to do with anything religious.

- $ -

**Oppugnancy**

_Adjective - __The act of oppugning; opposition; resistance_

- $ -

A ray of sunlight burst through the curtains and into the small room; Kagome opened her eyes gradually, unaware of her surroundings. She gazed around and spotted a figure nearby.

"You're awake," Inuyasha looked at her.

Memories began rushing back into her mind. Her eyes fell to her arms and hands; her knuckles were bruised; her face was beaten; her whole body shook.

"Are you okay?" he walked closer to where she lay and pulled out a chair to sit by her. His hand reached up and gently touched Kagome's fragile face. After a while, the two broke their eye contact. He finally said in just above a whisper, "I planked them."

Kagome bit her lips as his hand brushed across her cheeks. "What?" she asked, barely listening.

"The people who did this to you – I made them walk-the-plank." Inuyasha's hand now slowly reached for hers, examining her bruised knuckles.

Kagome slowly shook her head, "Inuyasha, they were drunk."

"They deserved it. What did they say to you?" he asked.

Kagome shivered as Inuyasha took his hand away from hers'. "They…" she stopped, trying to remember what the pirates had said to her that night. Kagome sat there, thinking. Inuyasha merely looked at her, not rushing for a reply. "They said…" to stay away from you, that we were getting too close. She finished the sentence in her mind, not saying it out loud. She could not tell him what they had said, for she was scared it might have been true.

Inuyasha simply continued to stare at her. "Tell me," he said softly.

Kagome shook her head. "I don't remember," she lied. Could she be really getting too close to him? It was for the treasure's purpose only, right? He was using her and she was using him? From the time she became captive on the ship, the two talked almost every day. Each day, she felt more and more drawn towards him. Why did she feel this way? Who was he to her? Could she actually…like him?

Kagome winced at the last thought.

"What's wrong?" Inuyasha got up from his chair.

"I…" she felt like crying, "is Kikyo okay?"

"She's fine, just a minor cut that's all. I was just about to go see her, she's in my room."

"Can you tell her I'm sorry?"

Inuyasha started walking away. "Tell her yourself. You were the one that cut her."

As he left, Kagome let a tear slide down her face. One minute he was nice to her and the next he treated her like nothing. She liked him then despised him. Kagome hated the feeling.

- $ -

Kikyo opened her eyes slowly. The cut was minor, but she tried to pretend to Inuyasha that it hurt her deeply. It was by chance that Kagome was too hurt her in such a fashion. This incident would only make Inuyasha become even more distant to Kagome and closer to herself.

There was a soft tap on her door, and Kikyo got up from her bed gingerly to unlock the latch upon the door. She had expected it to be Inuyasha, but to her surprise it was Kagome.

The young pirate in front of her looked tired and her face had a forced smile upon it. "I came by to tell you… how sorry I am." The second part of Kagome's sentence came out more strained than she had wanted, and Kikyo merely nodded her head a bit to show some courtesy.

"I know you didn't have any wrong intentions. It was an accident, but I can't stand and talk for long." Kikyo held her hand to the wound. She had no intent of speaking to Kagome any further.

Kagome simply shook her head in agreement and closed the door behind her before she left.

- $ -

Inuyasha sat silently in his room. What was going on with his life? His emotions were pulling him in like quick sand- drowning him even. His heart had lurched when he had found Kagome injured by his crew members. He had no second thoughts on whether to plank them or not. Yet, there was also Kikyo. Someone that he thought he got along better, but when she was hurt by Kagome, he could have never made her walk the plank.

In frustration, he wiped the maps and books off of his desk and buried his head in his arms. He had to concentrate on the treasure. He could not go on messing around with… love. Love was known to hurt and love was known to deceive. He couldn't let himself fall into a trap that he clearly could see. Kagome was after the same treasure. She could be using her feminine mystique to blind his goals.

The numbers had to mean something significant in order to get them to the next destination. Inuyasha pulled out the pendent from under his shirt. The numbers seemed random. They were in columns, but other than that, they seemed to have been placed there by chance.

He would have to ask for Kagome's help. Maybe she would notice something that he hadn't.

The numbers… columns… His mind was spinning. The columns reminded Inuyasha of something. His parents had often spent hours and hours with him. They tried so hard to teach him arithmetic. As a young child, he refused to learn and gave up, but his parents would punish him daily and soon he did learn the odd skill. He never found a use for it after his parents had left him.

With great fervor, Inuaysha grabbed a scroll and quill. These numbers in the columns would have to share one quality in common. 6 , 7, 19, 18, 25, and 36. It added to 111. The next one. And the next one. All six of them. He couldn't believe it. 111. Something was particular about that number. There were six 111.

The numbers were not placed at random. Someone had spent hours upon hours to come up with such an ingenious arrangement. Then something occurred to Inuyasha. There was six 111. Six of them made 666. It became clear what the numbers were trying to tell them.

It was the devil.

- $ -

Kagome lay motionless on her bed. Pain surged from inside her. Her mind was whirling- thinking and worrying about everything. A quick rap made her jump, nearly falling out of her bed.

The knob turned before she could even ask who was at the door. Inuyasha stumbled inside her room looking quite distraught.

"The amulet! I think it has something to do with the devil."

He shoved the papers with his calculations in her face. Kagome was overwhelmed by the intrusion and couldn't comprehend anything that he was telling her. The numbers were all jumbled on the page.

"Look, they all add up to 666," he said, trying desperately to get her to understand. He needed her to help him. They were so close.

Kagome looked at him in almost bewilderment, "Inuyasha, slow down. I don't understand… The numbers all add up to 666? Are you sure?"

Inuyasha nearly screamed at her, "I'm positive. We have to go to-"

Before he could finish, the ship shook hard causing Kagome to be flung off of her bed. She cried in pain as her head hit the floor first. Inuyasha was thrown to the opposite side of the room. Realizing that she was still injured, he rushed towards her- scooping her up in his arms still as the ship shook.

"What's going on?" Kagome said weakly.

"I think the crew just dropped the anchor in the middle of the sea…" his voice was soft, but he was sure of what had happened.

Kagome knew instantly that Inuyasha's assumption was correct. The ship could not have hit anything in the sea, and it could not have been a canon from another ship.

Throwing an anchor down in the middle of the sea without a captain's order meant only one thing. It was mutiny.

- $ -

Inuyasha placed Kagome gently back onto the bed. "Wait here, I'll go and see what is going on."

Kagome looked deeply into his eyes. For the first time, they showed fear. Inuyasha was unsure of the control that he held over his ship. "I'll go with you." In hope that Kagome would not, Inuyasha turned, not responding.

"Inuyasha, I want to go with you," Kagome tried weakly.

Swallowing hard, he turned to face her. "No, Kagome," he paused and added, "Every time we're together, one of us always gets hurt. I don't want that to happen." His face showed pain. He didn't want to leave her alone in the room, but for him to take her with him would be a death knell for both of them.

He walked quickly up the steps and onto the top deck. Inuyasha knew that he would be faced with his crew - a crew that no longer valued his leadership and no longer respected him to any degree at all. As he emerged from below, he was met eye to eye with Kikyo.

"What are you doing here?!" he did not know how to react; wasn't she still hurt and in his room?

Kikyo looked at him firmly, "Inuyasha, thank you for being so kind and taking me in."

He did not catch the sarcasm in her voice, so Inuyasha stood, bewildered. His crew was now coming left and right, they stood behind Kikyo. Looking into their eyes, he saw anger, fear, vengeance - this did not look good.

Inuyasha walked up closer to Kikyo. "What are you doing?" he asked in just above a whisper, only she could hear.

"I want either Kagome or you off the ship," she demanded loudly.

"You can't just do that; this is my crew. You're not even a part of it!"

Kikyo merely smirked, "I can do whatever I want, Inuyasha." His crew behind her all nodded in agreement. Then, she added, "Kagome isn't part of this crew either."

Her statement angered him, "She's hurt! How can you be so cruel?"

"Then are you going to get off the ship to save her? How cute." She said in disgust. "The crew and I have been talking. Ever since Kagome stepped onto this deck, you have changed. You used to be fun, they say, always talking to the crew, joking around. But now, you're in your room all day, talking to Kagome. Are you two planning something? Or is it that your mind is so caught up with that girl that you have forgotten your position in this crew? You are captain and for the past few weeks you have not acted like one. You planked your crewmates for a slave girl. Is that what captains do?"

Inuyasha took a step back, "I…" He bit his lips, not knowing what to say.

"So you do admit to this," Kikyo smiled, "well then, bring her out."

Two crew members climbed up the stairs, holding Kagome. She stared down at the ground, not resisting their pull on her. She had heard everything. It was her fault his crew hated him. Everything was her fault.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha started running towards her. Just then, a pirate held his sword against her neck, preventing Inuyasha from taking another step. He was so close to Kagome, he could probably reach out and save her, but he was too late.

"You come, she dies," the pirate said.

"Of course, there is one thing you can do to save her," Kikyo walked up to Inuyasha. She leaned in, her lips nearly touching his ears. "Tell me where the treasure is," she whispered, so that only Inuyasha and Kagome could hear.

How could she have known about the treasure? Inuyasha looked into Kikyo's eyes – she was not lying. What was he supposed to do? The only thing he could do now was tell her about it, the secret he had promised to keep. It was the only way to save Kagome and himself.

"Inuyasha, don't tell her!" Kagome screamed. The pirate tightened his grip on her.

Inuyasha closed his eyes and sighed. He did not want to look at Kagome in this state, for everytime he did, his heart felt like it would burst open.

"Fine then," Inuyasha turned around and faced the rest of his crew. "I'll go. The ship is yours," he declared loudly and started walking to the edge of the ship. He was going to jump.

"No!" Kagome struggled to set herself free. However, she only caused herself more pain; the healing wounds were starting to open again. "Inuyasha, stop!" Kagome tried to scream out at him. He was walking closer and closer to the ledge. There was only one thing she could do.

"Listen to me!" she cried at the top of her lungs. Now the attention was on her. "Everything is my fault! I will go! Inuyasha stays!"

"As you wish," Kikyo smirked. Her plan was working. Soon, she will have Inuyasha all to herself and together they will find the treasure. Of course, the treasure belonged to her.

Inuyasha looked back, baffled; she had just offered her life to save his. Before he knew it, the pirates had already dragged Kagome to the edge of the ship, where Inuyasha was going to jump. Without a second thought, they pushed her into the turbulent ocean waters.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha screamed. His voice reverberated around them and especially through Kagome's ears.

- $ -

A/N: Now with the treasure so close, new obstacles appear for both Inuyasha and Kagome. How is this going to change everything? Thanks for reading and we hoped you haven't given up on this fanfiction yet.


	16. Perambulate

_**D-e-v-l-4-1 here.**_

So...I was writing a **very** elaborate, pretty, long, cool, amazing author's note on the editing screen. And right when I clicked "Save Changes", it **freezes** on me. That's right. It freezes. **Dumb** _dumb_ dumb **stupid** _dumb _computer! Since I am in much disdain, if that's how you use that word, here's a shortened version. I am not writing all that stuff again. _Hmph._

Hey everyone! _Blablablabla (insert elaborate speech)_ Yes, we have finally updated. We're so sorry that it has taken forever, but hopefully this chapter will make up for it. _Blablabla._ For those of you who still remember what happened, good for you, you have amazing memory, you will go far in life, and good job. For those who don't remember, don't feel so bad because you're on the same boat as us. We had to read the whole story again just for this chapter! Wow, the dedication, we are good. _Blablabla, more sarcasm, you get the drift._ **Dumb computer.** Anyway, you probably need a recap so here you go.

Recap: The crew is getting angry with Inuyasha for being so nice to their captive, Kagome. During a battle with another crew, Inuyasha and Kagome fight side by side, killing many of the crew members and securing a victory. However, Kikyo came upon them and Kagome accidentally cut her. Inuyasha, concerned for Kikyo, scolded Kagome and took Kikyo back to her bed. Just then, Inuyasha's crew comes up to Kagome and beats her up because Inuyasha has been nice to her. The next day in the afternoon, Kikyo stirred up a revolt against Inuyasha to have Kagome planked. After much confusion, Kagome jumps.

No, we have not written ourselves into a corner, we've just been really busy. Hopefully with the many breaks ahead, more updates will be seen! Cross your fingers.

Lame meaning of the title, we know, but it just sounded so cool that we _had_ to use it. Never hurts to fill your brain with useless vocabulary.

Enjoy.

Please, oh please please please don't freeze again.

- $ -

**Perambulate**

_Verb - __to walk through, about, or over; travel through; traverse_

- $ -

A splash was heard as Inuyasha's voice echoed through the ship. "Kagome!" He yelled. Without a second thought, he pushed his way through his once loyal crew members and dove head first into the turbulent waters below, chasing after Kagome.

Kagome, a few feet ahead of him, turned as she heard a splash. "Inuyasha!" she screamed, her head bobbed on the water. She took several breaths before speaking again, "Why'd you come after me?"

As he swam faster to catch up to Kagome, thoughts of only saving her swirled in his mind. But how was he going to do that? They were in the middle of nowhere. They were going to die. His ship faded into the dark blue ocean. He faced her directly, while floating in the water, and looked at her pale face with slight bruises. "Are you okay?" he asked with concern.

Kagome panted and grabbed onto him, "What are we going to do?"

Inuyasha held her waist firmly and smiled at her, "We'll make it somehow." He turned 360 degrees; the vast ocean faced them in all directions. Which way were they going to swim to find land or were they going to be forever perished?

Kagome was already having a hard time breathing. Her whole body was still aching from the wounds she received from the crew members a night ago. She was going to pass out. Her grip on Inuyasha loosened and she slipped slightly down away from Inuyasha.

"Kagome," he tightened his grip around her and held her close to him, "don't give up."

- $ -

Her eyes fluttered open and she gasped for a breath of air. She coughed water out of her mouth before finally receiving air in her lungs again. She pushed her body upwards with her hands on the sandy ground; her whole body was wet, aching, and numb. Her eyes came into focus to her surroundings, it seemed like she was in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly, her last memories resurfaced.

"Inuyasha…" she gasped. Where was he? Was he okay? How was she able to make it on land? She slowly got up to her feet, stumbling forward. The images around her swirled and her feet were unstable, but she had to find Inuyasha.

Kagome looked to her right – the blue waters seemed to stretch endlessly before her. She then turned to the left – there was a thick forest.

Trying to regain her consciousness, she stumbled around the shoreline, looking for Inuyasha, but he was nowhere to be found.

She continued to walk for hours. The sun was starting to set below the horizon. Her legs ached and her feet burned from walking on the hot sand. As night fell, hope began to dwindle. It seemed like she had walked the entire island with no sign of Inuyasha anywhere. The sea waves now brushed her feet; she had to build a fire.

Kagome walked to the forest and gathered dry branches and twigs. She now had to stay here until help came. As the fire flickered before her, thoughts of Inuyasha came back to her mind. The waves crashed just below and she wondered if Inuyasha was still out there.

"_What's your name girl?" he asked as he charged towards her once more._

"_It's Kagome," she said as she defended herself. "What's yours?"_

_He sneered, "Inuyasha."_

That was when they met. Even though he was mean at first, his true self shown through in the end. Kagome's eyes began to swell up with tears.

_Inuyasha supported it with his hand and examined the wound, "It's not a deep cut, it will heal in no time." He then quickly put his hand in his pocket. When it came out, he had a handkerchief. Inuyasha showed it to Kagome. "Wash the wound, wrap it if you want, and get back to work."_

_Gently, Kagome took it out of his hand. She looked at him, a small smile formed on her face. "Thank you."_

A tear slipped down her face as memories began to rush back into her mind.

_Inuyasha noticed that Kagome was trying to suppress her weakness. He walked towards her and placed his hand over her forehead. "You still have a fever. We should just go back to the ship. This can wait."_

The treasure was such an important deal and he had put her before the treasure. She could almost feel his hand upon her forehead. She would do anything to see him again. More tears rolled down her face as she brought her head towards her knees.

"_Don't worry about it," he answered and smiled._

_It was the first time Kagome saw his smile._

The image of him smiling was etched deeply in her heart. How warm it felt. Could she see it again?

"_Are you okay?" he walked closer to where she lay and pulled out a chair to sit by her. His hand reached up and gently touched Kagome's fragile face. After a while, the two broke their eye contact. He finally said in just above a whisper, "I planked them."_

He had always been the first person she saw when she was hurt. He was also the one by her side, always willing to protect her.

"_Kagome," he tightened his grip around her and held her close to him, "don't give up." _

Those were his very last words to her. It now seemed impossible for her not to give up. She was stranded on an island by herself; it was the first time in a while she felt truly alone. She continued to cry to herself, unable to hold back the emotions. The memories of him kept playing back in her mind.

The fire illuminated the sky above her, casting smoke into the crisp, night air. She shivered; her damp clothes clung to her. She was about to give up.

- $ -

He had to been walking for what seemed like hours. Inuyasha tried desperately to recall what had happened after Kagome fainted. He had attempted to swim with her on his back, but his body would not cooperate. A strong wave took him under and he lost hold of Kagome. Fear filled his racing heart as he dove into the depth of the water to search for her. He would come up time and time again, gasping for air – each time unsuccessful.

Losing hope, he let the waves take his body, giving in to death.

The next thing he knew, he was on solid ground again. The island seemed deserted, and he started to search futilely for any sign of Kagome.

The stars were already up in the sky. Could he find her? Having walking all day, thoughts of regret came upon him. He had trusted Kikyo and put her before Kagome, allowing her to get her to get hurt, over and over again. And now that he understood the truth, it might be too late, for Kagome could be gone.

Ready to settle for the night, he looked up from the ground. Smoke appeared ahead and tiny flares flickered into the sky. Who could that be? He started walking towards it.

As he approached, he could make out a small figure, hunched over. The waves broke the silence. "Kagome!" he screamed as loud as possible and ran towards her.

Kagome thought it was her own mind teasing her when she heard her name being called. Turning around, her blurry vision focused on Inuyasha.

He held onto her before she could believe what just had happened. Wrapping her arms around him, she began to cry.

"I thought I lost you," he began, hugging her tighter. Tears were starting to fill his eyes as he began to choke on his words. "I'm so sorry," he stuttered, "I'm sorry for not believing you. I'm sorry for trusting Kikyo. I'm sorry for hurting you. I'm sorry you're in this mess. I'm sorry for everything. I'm just so sorry."

He pulled himself away and faced her. Inuyasha slowly brushed away the tears sliding down her face.

However, Kagome could not help but cry harder. She shook her head and placed it on his chest, hugging him tighter to assure herself that she was not dreaming. He was really there.

"I thought," she gasped for air, "that you didn't make it, that I would be all alone. I thought I lost you. Oh, I was so scared. This is all my fault. I'm…"

Before she could continue any further, Inuyasha gently raised her head to meet his. "It will be okay," he assured her, "we're both here now."

Kagome tried to bring up a smile and nodded, holding back her tears.

Inuyasha wrapped his arms around Kagome and walked her towards the fire that she had built. She shivered as the night air began to cool down. The two of them sat on the sand. Inuyasha held her gently next to him and she rested her head on his shoulders. Not thinking about tomorrow, they closed their eyes.

- $ -

"Kagome?" he muttered, feeling a slight tug on his arm. However, there was no response and Inuyasha opened his eyes slowly, still desiring more sleep.

A face smeared with war painted stared at him. Inuyasha jerked his head backwards out of surprise- hitting it hard on the wooden pole he was tied to. Coarse rope was used to pull his hand together behind his back- causing him to not be able to defend himself.

Hesitating, he spoke up, "Who are you? Why did you tie me up? Where's Kagome?" His last question was the only one that mattered to him. She had fallen asleep by him and he had thought of waking up with her by him.

Breaking him from his thoughts, there was a whisper, "Inuyasha!"

The man stood, his eyes diverting behind where Inuyasha stood. "Kagome," Inuyasha said almost immediately. She was tied to the same pole right behind him. "I'm right here, behind you."

He could feel the pole shake from Kagome trying to get herself untied. The man disappeared from Inuyasha's view and slapped Kagome across the face as she was trying to break free.

Inuyasha pulled as hard as he could to free his hands. The man started to yell at them in a language they didn't recognize. He took out a horn and blew into it loudly. Kagome and Inuyasha froze.

From a distance, they heard footsteps. People were running towards them. Men and women appeared. Their dress was in animal skins and their face covered with war paint as well. The man spoke to them rapidly and an elderly man walked forth towards Inuyasha. He seemed somewhat high rank in the tribe. There was black and red paint smudged on his face, branches of twigs which formed a hat lay on his head. His body was covered with animal skin.

They stared at each other in dead silence. The man held his arms up into the sky and started a chant. Soon, young boys began to pile twigs and branches at Inuyasha's and Kagome's feet.

Kagome knew exactly what was going to happen to them now and started to tug on the pole again.

"Inuyasha! They're going to burn us alive!"

He knew what she spoke was the truth. They needed to find a way out before it was all too late. These natives were using them in a sacrifice ceremony to their gods. They were trespassing on their land and the natives did not like it a bit.

Inuyasha leaned as far into the pole as possible to talk to Kagome without being heard. Kagome did the same. He whispered so no one but Kagome could hear, "we're going to get out of this, Kagome. I promise to never let anything hurt you again."

Even though he couldn't see her face, Kagome nodded silently. A tear slipped down her face as she saw a flaming torch being carried over, ready to set fire to the branches underneath them.

- $ -

And that's it for now! Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed writing it. Thanks for sticking with us, reading, and reviewing. It means so much for us.


	17. Quandary

OMG! We're updating after THREE weeks? Like no way! Wow, we are too good!

Lol jk…but anyway, faster than usual right? (I know most people get their chapters up after 1-2 weeks, but just pretend this is quick) There was just sudden motivation and bam we wrote the chapter. (Actually we wrote part of it on a late start before school and the rest Lilypad finished at work…zzz)

So Inuyasha and Kagome are like burning cause the natives like are burning them, cause like they like sacrificing to their gods and like they don't like them. You like get the drift right? (I beat the record for the most likes in a sentence)

Alright, alright, enough talking and ENJOY-

- $ -

**Quandary**

_Noun - a state of perplexity or uncertainty, esp. as to what to do; dilemma_

- $ -

The young boys stood back, allowing the elder to step closer to the captives. He held a flaming torch in his right hand, approaching Kagome and Inuyasha slowly. The man examined both of their faces closely. His cold expression was returned with a sense of fear from the captives.

The natives that had gathered round started to stomp their feet as the man raised the torch into the air. Right when he lowered it, a silence overcame the gathering. The elder swiftly threw the flame at the feet of Inuyasha. Turning his back to the captives, he yelled words and everyone started to repeat after him.

The flames spread quickly over their feet. Inuyasha frantically tried to loosen the knot that bound his wrists together, but it would not undo.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed over the chants. Her voice was barely audible to Inuyasha.

He tugged on the knots even further, using all of his strength. Kagome could feel the rope pull on her wrists as well. "These won't loosen," his voice filled with frustration as the fire started to pick up. They could both feel the heat rising.

The chanting abruptly stopped and Inuyasha looked up. Miroku appeared in front of him, his sword in hand, waving it in the air.

"Miroku! Why are you here?" Inuyasha screamed, "Hurry and cut us loose!"

Without turning back, Miroku yelled back, "That's no fun! I have never fought natives before in my life. You have to let me live some glory first." With that he ran forward, directly into the natives.

"Miroku!" he exclaimed again, "Bastard!"

There was a sudden rustle in the bushes, and in a mere moment Kagome and Inuyasha found their wrists released. The two jumped away from the blazing fire that surrounded them, their feet burned slightly by the heat.

"Are you two okay?" Sango asked with concern.

"We're fine," the two responded in unison. Sango ran to help Miroku, knowing they were saved.

Turning around, Inuyasha immediately faced Kagome. "I'm sorry. If it wasn't for Miroku and Sango, we might have died."

"It's okay, at least we're fine now," she said as she fell into Inuyasha's arms. Her knees were weak and her feet pained to stand upright. "Sorry," she said into his chest, trying to push herself back up. He grabbed her around the waist and led closer to the forest's edge. She sat down. Her bruises were still visible from the impacts of Inuyasha's crew members.

"Just stay here," he said as he pulled out a small dagger from the inside of his jacket.

Kagome nodded slightly before Inuyasha ran off to join Sango and Miroku's side.

- $ -

Watching helplessly as her friends battled the natives, Kagome's mind reeled back to when they were tied at the stake. The flames had flushed around them without remorse and pity— the heat biting at her feet and legs. Her heart had beaten hard against her chest. There were so many things that would have been left unsaid, yet upon those moments, all she could seem to do was scream his name.

As time drew on, the numbers of the natives seemed to decrease and the three pirates were able to gain valuable ground. Miroku was fighting valiantly, leading the group forward. When Inuyasha killed one of the larger warriors, the rest that had survived retreated from where they had first came.

Sango was the first to reach Kagome. She pulled her up quickly. "We have to get out here," Miroku said immediately, short of breath, "They're probably going to go into the village for backup."

"Can you walk?" Inuyasha asked with apprehension, seeing the burn makes on her legs.

Letting go of Sango, Kagome took a step forward, believing she would be able to walk. She stumbled forward and fell to her knees. The pain from her feet shot through her. Inuyasha scooped her about without another word. Kagome was weak from being at sea, the abuse from his crew members, and now a near death experience with the natives on his island. How it all seemed to be his fault.

- $ -

The four walked quickly through the woods, scanning the area for any of the natives. They spent the entire afternoon walking until they reached what they predicted to be the other side of the island. I

Inuyasha set Kagome down gingerly, her back resting on a tree. She had fallen asleep in his arms and woke suddenly when she was placed on the ground. 'Inuyasha?" she said, just opening her eyes.

"I'm right here." His voice swept over her like a dream; it made everything feel safe again.

Miroku and Sango sat down, facing Kagome. "Aren't you two glad we found you?" he joked as he pulled out a canteen under his jacket and took a sip.

"If you had saved us before you proved yourself a hero that would have been better," Inuyasha spat back.

"Miroku and I devised our plan in the woods. He was to distract all the natives and I would cut you free. We're not that cruel," Sango explaining, knowing the pain that Kagome was going through from the flames.

Kagome nodded, knowing her most faithful friend would always do everything in her power to help her. "How did you two end up on the island though? Was it Kikyo that sent you off?"

"After you were forced off and Inuyasha jumped, we knew we couldn't keep staying on the ship," Sango said, her voice was solemn yet there was a trace of anger that lingered in it. "Kikyo forced all of the crew members that had not sworn loyalty to her to do so. Miroku and I refused. She gave us a single option. It was to leave immediately."

Kagome's eyes widened, "She made you jump too?"

"She was about to, until I gave her some of my hidden treasures in return for a small rowboat," Miroku said in disgust. "Sango and I rowed all day until we reached this island by chance. We had no idea where you or Inuyasha were or if you were even on this island. We started to walk around in search of food and happened to stumbled on you guys getting yourself roasted."

Silence blanketed the conversation. Sighing, Inuyasha stood up. "I'm going to find some food for the night. Want to come with me, Miroku?"

The two men left, leaving Sango and Kagome alone. "I'm so glad we found you," Sango said, filling up the emptiness.

Kagome smiled. "It's a miracle that you found us," she thought what she had gone through in merely the past few days, "It's a miracle I'm even alive."

- $ -

Fruits were carried back as their dinner. They were unable to hunt anything for fear of roasting the meat would attract unwanted attention. The sun had disappeared and the moon was their only source of light.

The wind picked up a bit and the tide was coming in closer. Kagome sat, curled into a ball, shaking from the coldness. Inuyasha moved slightly towards her, giving her some body warmth.

Miroku eyed the pair suspiciously. They were a lot friendlier and kinder to one another. He had never even seen such a graceful side to Inuyasha. Noting his captain's actions, he moved closer to Sango. She noticed his movement and quickly moved away, keeping the distance between him and her as she always had before.

"We're going to have to find the boat that Miroku and I came in tomorrow to get off this island. It isn't safe," Sango mentioned upon moving her position.

Everyone understood that it was necessary, but without anywhere to go and no map to navigate them, the chances of survival at sea was almost the same as being here on the island.

Spitting out a seed from the fruit he just consumed, Inuyasha said, "We'll start looking at the crack of dawn. As for tonight, Miroku, Sango, and I will take turns keeping watch."

Inuyasha decided to take the first shift of the night. He held the dagger in his hand, his eyes open and his ears toned to all the small movements in the forest. Sango and Miroku found a softer patch of grass of to the side and lay, falling quickly asleep.

Kagome now rested her head on Inuyasha's shoulder. He breathed deeply, feeling her touch. He almost wanted to hold her hand, but stopped himself.

"Thank you," she murmured.

"For what?" his voice was soft and sweet.

She moved her head, trying to find a more comfortable position. "For taking care of me."

He shook his head even though he knew she wouldn't have been able to see it. "I almost couldn't save you today."

"But we're okay now," her sentence felt good and reassuring. "After being on the brink of death, there are some things that we seemed to have valued more in a life we believed could go on forever." He knew what she was referring to.

They had both gone after the treasure with a fierce passion, but never had he acknowledged what was truly more important to him. It was her. Inuyasha had finally realized that Kagome was important to him. They say that you don't realize your feelings for another until they are gone. The statement holds true, for Kagome could've been gone a couple of times, and it would've been too late.

She continued, "The only person that I loved unconditionally for all these years was my grandpa. He taught me everything and cared for me. I was driven all these years to find the single thing he told me upon leaving this world. It is very important to me, believe me, but I finally realize something. What will we do after we find the treasure? Though the past few weeks were hard, I actually enjoyed your company. I like being with you, and I don't know what I would do after we find the treasure."

At the beginning of this all, Inuyasha could recall how he had planned to use Kagome and how he knew that she would be using him. Now he felt differently. Just being with her, he felt more like himself. "Kagome, let's not worry about the future and focus on the present, alright?"

"Alright," she whispered.

- $ -

Awww, yeah, well at least they realized they were important to each other right? And liked each other, maybe, hopefully, perhaps, possibly.

Thanks for reading! And if you could take a few seconds to leave a review, that would be really appreciated!


	18. Respite

So did anyone see National Treasure 2? Cause it kinda reminded me of this story, although it's way different.

Anyway, have fun reading and hope you still remember everything that has happened because I'm too tired to give a recap.

On a side note, one of the words for the chapters, I forget which was actually on the SATs like around October of last year, so I thought that was pretty cool.

- $ -

**Respite **

_Noun – an interval of relief_

- $ -

With a soft shake, Kagome opened her eyes. Sango was hovering over her, nudging quietly to arouse her. Kagome found herself cold. Inuyasha's jacket that he had wrapped around her in the middle of the night lay limply on her legs.

She massaged her shoulder and neck having slept awkwardly on his shoulder. Turning to find him, she noticed that he was gone. Inuyasha stood a few feet away, talking to Miroku.

Sango cleaned up the grounds around them, not leaving any traces behind that would indicate that they had camped out there. She took all of the twigs and branches they gathered for the fire that hadn't burned completely and threw them in the midst of some bushes near by. Kagome stood up and folded the jacket carefully up.

The sun was still behind the horizon, only a hint of yellow and orange shown where the waters met the sky. The waves are calm and a few of the birds were already chirping, declaring that the day was about to begin again.

Inuyasha walked over to Kagome. She gave him his jacket back and he swung it over it his shoulders. He told her that Miroku believed to have placed his boat not too far from where they were and they hoped that they would be off the island right as it became fully light.

The footsteps fell in place and the four walked together in silence. They were afraid. At every noise, Inuyasha's head would turn sharply—his grip always around his dagger. The natives' location was unclear to them and they tried to keep close of the edge of the forest that faced the waves.

As they continued to walk, they became less sure that they would recover the boat and sail away safely off of the island. Kagome's breathing was staggering. Her feet burned with every step as if she was still tied to the pole with the flames beneath her. Every muscle within her was strained from overworking and recuperating from the injuries that were constantly inflicted on them. Meals that she had eaten were few and portions were limited to what could be salvaged.

Inuyasha noticed her increasingly slow pace. He examined her from the corner or his eye. She used to be so brilliant and majestic the first time they had met. Kagome had fought with vibrancy and skill. "Do you want to stop for a little while?" he asked with concern.

She shook her head. They couldn't stop searching for the ship because of her. "We're going to find it soon. I'll be okay.' She forced a smile on her lips and hasted up her pace. Inuyasha opened his mouth to object, but swallowed hard—understanding that their life depended on getting off of the island.

The waves were now crashing onto the sandy shore line and the sun was nearly completely risen.

"Miroku… I think this is where we had arrived at." Sango had stopped, pointing to a sector of the shore. Directly across from it was a large opening in the forest. She had remembered it when they were tugging the small row boat in. It seemed like the same clearing that they had walked through before seeing Inuyasha and Kagome getting burned alive.

In frustration, Miroku grabbed his hair, almost wanting to rip it out. "It has to be here!" He remembered the place just as Sango had. "We rowed up to right there," he pointed at the sand, "Where could it have gone?!" his voice was loud.

Inuyasha and Kagome scanned the area. There was nothing that resembled to be a boat insight. Water surrounded them everywhere.

"Look, we'll continue to walk and maybe find it. Someone could have taken it and used it. The boat might still be here," Inuyasha tried as hard as he could to raise their spirits. They couldn't possibly give up. Not if quitting meant death.

Only after a few minutes of resuming their walk, a young girl was spotted. She was hiding behind some of the trees, peering out at them. Kagome caught a catch of movement and spotted her red dress before she was able to escape.

"Wait," Kagome broke away from her friends and ran towards the girl. She caught her by the wrist. The girl screamed and Kagome covered her mouth before she could make any noise that would further attract unwanted attention. "Shh," she said soothing, "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

She looked directly into the little girl's eyes. Kagome placed her finger with her free hand to her lips, indicating to be quiet. The little girl's eyes were glazed in tears, but she nodded, shaking in fear.

Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku saw the situation unfold, standing behind Kagome. "She was spying on us, wasn't she?" Sango asked, almost stating.

The little girl, no more than the age of seven, gasped for air as Kagome released her. Her small frame was shaking from the confrontation for the four towering pirates. She clutched both of her hands in front of her, not knowing what to do.

Kagome stroked her fine black hair that came down to her shoulders. "It's okay. It's okay," she repeated over and over again. The young child eased her breathing. Facing the others, Kagome said, "She might help be able to help us if we can find a way to communicate with her. If she can show us where we could find a ship, we'll be off of this island before she would ever have time to tell any of the others that she saw us."

Miroku nodded immediately and tore off a long, thin branch from the tree just off to his right. He motioned for the girl to follow him. Kagome took her hand and led her after him. He drew a simple boat with paddles beside it.

"Can you help us find it?" he bent down to meet face to face with the child. His words were slow, but he knew either way she would not understand a single word he said. Miroku pointed at the boat again and then at him and then at the water—hoping she would acknowledge the fact that he wanted a boat for himself to be able to sail away.

The girl nodded now.

They walked through a small portion of the forest until entering the sandy shores again. Twenty boats are so were tied in a row. Miroku nearly jumped for joy at the sight. "He ran over, untying the ropes that held his boat.

"The natives must have found our boat and taken it here. This girl just saved our lives!" Miroku exclaimed with excitement.

"We need to get off of this island before that girl is able to tell anyone she was with us." Inuyasha reached for Kagome's hand to help her get into the boat.

"Wait…" Kagome glanced back at the little girl. "Should we take her with us?"

"Why would we want to take her with us?" Inuyasha asked confusingly, slowly getting off the boat.

"Well, look at her, she looks so lonely."

"Kagome," Inuyasha tried to smile, "think rationally. She could be a spy or something."

"But…"

"This is our only chance to escape; we can't risk taking her along."

Kagome sighed, "Just look at her eyes…"

Inuyasha looked at the girl and thought for a moment, "You know what? I'm starting to think we should take her. I mean she might go report that we left and plus, she might know the way around this place."

"Okay, alright, let's take her already then, we're losing time!" Sango grabbed the girl's arm. "Hurry up!"

The little girl resisted, but Sango's grip was too strong for her to break away. She then cried in her native tongue for help, screamed, and kicked, but nothing worked. Sango cupped her hand to the girl's mouth to prevent her from screaming and reluctantly dragged her onto the boat.

Kagome jumped into the boat as Inuyasha and Miroku pushed it away from the sand and into the open sea. They jumped onto the little rowboat as their bodies were halfway into the water. They were finally free. Inuyasha and Miroku grabbed the oars and rowed as fast as they could to get out of sight from the natives.

The little girl struggled until she realized that it was too late, there was no way she could go back.

"That's better," Inuyasha was relieved. "Her screaming was hurting my ears. Now I can row in peace."

The island now seemed like a mere painting from far away. The current pushed them even further away. After what seemed like hours, the two rowers had sweat drops rolling down their faces.

"You two should take a break. Sango and I can row for a while," Kagome looked concerned.

Inuyasha smiled at her, "I'm fine, you should rest." Though Kagome claimed she was healed now, Inuyasha had his doubts. Her movements have been deteriorating since the first day he met and fought her. She was not as swift, not as strong. He blamed himself for it.

Breaking Inuyasha's train of thoughts, Miroku smirked, "I'm a man, and it is manly to row. So no thanks, let me row."

Sango laughed and rolled her eyes.

Kagome's eyes then fell onto the girl. She sat across from her, right next to Sango. "What's your name?" she asked.

The girl stared blankly back at her.

"I don't think she understands," Sango sighed, "It would be so much more useful if she could speak our language."

"What's your name?" She tried again.

No answer.

"We're not here to hurt you." Kagome wondered why she was still talking to the girl who obviously didn't understand a single word she was saying.

Suddenly, she screamed.

She kept repeating the same sentence, her voice dying down a little every time.

Inuyasha stopped rowing. He looked at her.

She said the sentence again, this time just mere whispers.

"What's wrong?" Sango looked confused at Inuyasha.

He was in shock. "I think I recognize that language…"

All eyes were on him, but he just looked into Kagome's eyes and said softly, "She said _Schiwgatee_ as in _Iti __Schiwgatee Kaasta__Aseonecre Gaz Ut_"

Kagome gasped. Though what he said may sound like gibberish, she knew exactly what he meant. He was referring to the treasure. She spoke the same language that was engraved on the wall at their second clue – the saber shop.

Sango and Miroku just looked utterly confused. "What are you talking about Inuyasha? What was that you said? You know the language?" All they could do was ask questions.

Inuyasha held his tongue, "Not know, I've just heard of that phrase I said before from my parents. I recognized one word she said, that's all." He shrugged it off.

"Why do I have the feeling that there is something going on between you two? Something you're not telling us?" Sango eyed them suspiciously and then raised an eyebrow.

"Why would we hide something from you two?" Kagome merely smiled, "We're not hiding anything, trust me." Inuyasha and Miroku continued rowing again. It was late. The sun was almost setting.

Kagome then spotted a thin string tied around the girl's neck. She reached for it and tugged at something heavy that lay beneath her shirt. The girl didn't protect, for she was too tired.

The string was attached to an amulet made of metal. Kagome tried to not act surprised. The amulet was one just like Inuyasha's, only smaller. It had engravings of numbers, where each row and column added up to 666. She held it and let her thumb smoothly slide over the dents of the numbers carved into the amulet – examining it. Kagome then turned it around. The backside was blank except for the bottom right hand corner. It had tiny carvings that read: _Sapphire Temple_.

"Will you quit staring at the thing? It's not that interesting, is it? Unless you can read numbers or something." Sango took a glance at the amulet.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "It's just pretty, that's all." She then put it back beneath the girl's shirt to not cause any suspicion.

After hours of rowing, they could finally see land. It was already night time and the temperature fell. The little girl shivered. They pulled their boat onto the sand. It was an average sized village. Little huts were aligned right next to each other. The four of them then pulled the boat onto the shore. Music could be heard from behind the thin layer of trees that separated them and the village.

"Seems like they're having some sort of festival," Sango pointed at the flames that lit up the night sky.

"Good, 'cause I'm starving." Inuyasha sniffed the air; it smelled like duck.

They slowly walked past the trees. Everyone was wearing vivid colors, dancing around a big fire. There was a huge roasting pot in the middle. All of them laughed, for they have not really eaten in the past few days. They joined the music festival.

"What is the name of this island?" Kagome heard Sango ask.

"Sapphire…Sapphire island."

Her thoughts immediately raced back to the engraving on the back of the amulet: _Sapphire Temple._

- $ -

Wow, I just noticed that this whole chapter was one scene, no cuts, no breaks. I've never done that before.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed it!


	19. Serendipity

So we were outlining the whole story and realized that it's almost done! But...there's 26 letters in the alphabet and this is only 19. So…we thought of another twist. Our protagonists are so close to the treasure, yet so far (because we're evil).

Last chapter: They finally got off the horrible island with the help of a little girl who could not speak their language. She wore a necklace that looked like Inuyasha's, where 666 could be added up horizontally and vertically. On the back of this necklace says: Sapphire Temple. They arrive at an island during a festival. The island's name is Sapphire Island.

Dun dun dun…

Extra long chapter because we love you guys.

Enjoy!

- $ -

**Serendipity**

_Noun - an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident_

- $ -

Kagome paused. She immediately dragged Inuyasha away from the lively festival. She tugged him until the music was merely a small distraction noise. They were in the forest from where they came out of again.

"Inuyasha!" she hissed.

Confused as ever, Inuyasha replied, "What do you think you're doing? I was just about to eat the roast duck!"

However, Kagome persisted, "This is more important than some duck! Do you know the name of this island?"

Inuyasha slowly shook his head.

"Sapphire – Sapphire Island."

The gentle splashing of the ocean waves could be heard beyond the forest, from the other side of the forest.

"As in…Sapphire Temple?" Inuyasha scrunched his eyebrows.

"Exactly," Kagome smiled. Inuyasha caught on just as fast as she had. It appeared that the game of treasure hunting required a bit of luck, just a bit. Though, if the two had not met each other, they would not even be close to solving the puzzle. Once they put their heads together, everything seemed to always work in their favor.

Now, they just had to figure out a way to distract Miroku and Sango while they find Sapphire Temple. Kagome couldn't help but think if there were still more clues, and if so, how many more were there. Was it even worth the effort? She had a feeling that this time they were close.

- $ -

The sun crept above the horizons, over the mountains, and lit up the sky in the east. Inuyasha slowly opened his eyes. During the festival, they found a nice family of three to stay with. They let them sleep in an empty room without any charge. Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and the little girl were still asleep.

Today was the day they visited Sapphire Temple, if it existed of course. Inuyasha hoped that this was where their long-winded journey ended, but he suppressed those hopes, knowing that there will be more clues. He couldn't help but ponder what the treasure contained. Gold? Valuables? Or absolutely nothing at all?

A family treasure must mean something, right? If it was his family's secret, then why was it also Kagome's secret? The puzzle seemed only partially complete; there were many pieces still missing.

"Morning," he heard a soft whisper. It was Kagome.

Inuyasha smiled at her; she had just opened her eyes. "Hey."

"What were you thinking about?" She slowly sat up and stretched her arms.

"Oh, you know what."

She nodded, "Before that, we should probably find the girl a home."

"Why?" He asked.

"Well, I mean we can't take care of her forever. We're still hunting for…you know." She gave a quick glance at the sleeping figures of Miroku and Sango. "And plus, she will probably just get in our way."

"That's true," he nodded in agreement, "where should we start?"

"Well, I was thinking if maybe our host would take her in. They seem really nice and I'm sure their ten year old son would love to have a little sister."

"Do you think they're awake right now?"

"Probably," Kagome stood up and slowly started walking towards the door. Trying not to wake anyone up, she slid it open and stepped into the next room. Inuyasha followed.

Immediately, the two couples turned around and smiled at them. They were making breakfast. One was kneading dough while the other set up the table. They all greeted each other.

Kagome politely smiled as she sat down on a chair. "Could we talk to you two really quick?"

They both nodded and took a seat across the table. Inuyasha sat next to Kagome. He nodded towards her, giving her support.

"The little girl in the other room isn't ours, we found her on an island," Kagome began.

The wife laughed, "We figured just as much, I mean you four look so young, there is no way you could have a child. How old is she?"

"We don't know, she's probably around seven or eight," Kagome replied.

Inuyasha carried on, "Us four, we travel a lot. We don't think we can take care of her the way she deserves." He decided to let go of the pirate part, for he didn't want to scare them.

"So we were wondering," Kagome continued, "If you two would like to take her in, be her family." She looked at them gently, "or if you know anyone who would like to adopt her of course."

The husband looked at his wife. She thought for a few minutes and then nodded back with a smile. The husband then turned to Inuyasha and Kagome. "We can take care of her," he finally responded.

They both let a sigh of relief and grinned; it was easier than they thought. The couple was indeed very nice.

"We have always wanted a daughter," the wife smiled, "our son will be delighted too. I'll tell him the news." The two of them left to wake their son up.

"Well, glad we got that over with," Inuyasha smirked, "we should probably wake them up too." He pointed towards their room and walked towards it.

"Up! Up! Up!" He hit each of them. The little girl he hit softer of course.

Miroku grumbled, "You can't boss me around like this, you're not captain anymore." He then turned to the other side.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "Technically, I'm still your captain, you followed me to that one island remember? I just don't have a ship. That's all." He kicked his blanket away and jerked his head so it would face him.

"Okay okay, I give." He sighed, "Why are we getting up so early anyway?"

"Well, we just found a place for the little girl to stay." He contemplated whether he should invite or tell them about the temple visit already planned.

By this time, Sango was fully up and sitting against the wall. She and Kagome watched two guys argue. Sango couldn't help but show her excitement, "Who's she staying with? This is wonderful!"

"Actually, she's just staying with the owner of this place. They were happy to take her in." Kagome explained.

- $ -

After they introduced the girl to her new family, the four of them decided to check out the town. In the broad daylight, the town seemed much calmer than it had been the previous night. There were not many people on the streets, most probably still sleeping.

"So what are we doing?" Miroku walked slowly behind, still lacking sleep.

"Well," Kagome turned around to face him, walking backwards, "We're sightseeing."

"What's there to see?" He yawned.

Without turning around, Inuyasha answered, "Well, just to see what's here, it'll be interesting."

"I don't see anything interesting." He fastened his pace to catch up to the group.

"Kagome and I asked around yesterday night for interesting places to go and they mentioned to us that there was a temple not too far from here." Inuyasha quickened his pace. Inviting them couldn't hurt. If he and Kagome had just wandered off without their consent, they would have found it suspicious anyway, as long as they don't know about the treasure.

"Since when were you religious…" Miroku mumbled and the four of them walked away from the village, towards the temple.

- $ -

Continuously swirling in Kagome's mind was the prospect of the treasure here on this very island. As she walked quickly to keep up with Inuyasha's pace, the shops and people that lined the streets were a complete blur to her. She had no idea what the temple would hold, but everything seemed to fit so perfectly—there was no way they could be left at a dead end.

Sango and Miroku had given up trying to match Inuyasha's quick sightseeing and lagged behind saying that they would eventually catch up.

"Where are you headed so quickly, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, catching her breath. "Do you even know where this place is?"

Without even turning to his side to respond to her directly, he merely said, "Look."

His finger pointed to the East. The temple stood graciously before them. Inuyasha was in good fortune enough to find it at the heart of the island.

The front had two sets of stairs leading up to the interior of the temple. The artists had painted the walls with intricate designs of gleaming gold that now shone even brighter with the sun rising. The statue in the front was a goddess made out of pure white stone in the middle of a fountain.

Both Inuyasha and Kagome stood still in the middle of the street to view it. Many people were climbing the steep stairs to get to the temple. They could see other small statues that lined either side of the stairs and a beautiful garden encircled the temple.

"Let's go," Inuyasha said as with a smile and he headed towards the temple in a nearly a full sprint.

They passed trees with cherry blossoms at the entrance to the temple. Everything that surrounded the temple had a hint of red, bringing an image of sapphires that dripped from every corner of the temple.

In roses in front of the fountain spelled out 'Sapphire Temple.' Kagome had never seen such a sight in her life. The passion of religion was so great and the people all seemed to have a faith that showed through in their faces. It was almost ironic that the clue would lead them here. A place that held incredible amounts of belief in a divine being could be the result of the number 666 –a number that was meant for the devil.

Inuyasha pulled at Kagome. "Sorry. This place is," she couldn't find the right word.

"It's breathtaking," Inuyasha finished for her. Kagome nodded slightly, he was right. There was a certain aura to the place. It gave off a sense of security and protection, that nothing bad could even happen as long as they were here.

The two climbed the steps slowly, their eyes scanning the surroundings, trying to locate anything that could possibly connect with the other string of clues that they have found before.

They passed statue after statue. Each one represented a god and they all had bronze plaques beneath them that described each one.

Kagome stopped at each one, studying the god or goddess and reading quickly their history. At top of the stairs, Kagome paused behind a woman and a small child in her arms. The woman's back was turned towards Kagome and she could hear her murmuring soft prayers as she rocked her child back and forth.

Inuyasha had finished analyzing his side of statues and ran up to meet with Kagome. "I don't see anything," he commented.

"Me neither," Kagome sighed. It had taken them almost an hour to just simply get to the stop of the stairs and they hadn't even searched the interior of the temple even.

The woman turned around as to leave. She bent down picking up a bag of groceries, but it slipped out of her hands—spilling apples and oranges. The fruit skipped down several stairs before Kagome and Inuyasha were able to react to retrieve them for the woman.

"Thank you," she said sincerely as she slipped the fruit back into the bag. She was young and her eyes seared of a deep hazel. "I'm sorry for having you wait behind me. I did not notice your presence."

"It's okay. You seemed to be in very deep prayer and I was in no rush." She nodded and was about to leave, but hesitated.

Kagome had taken a step forward to see the last statue and before she got read the first line of the plaque the woman spoke. "I know it's none of my business, but I was curious if you were new here?"

Taken aback, Kagome struggled to answer. "Yes… we just came here last night."

She smiled knowingly. "Then I hope you find what your heart desires here." With that sentence, her child awoke and started to cry. She cradled her arms back and forth to sooth her and walked briskly down the steps before Kagome could digest what she had said.

"What does she mean by that?" Inuyasha said contemplatively.

Kagome shook her head, "I don't know." She turned her mind back to the statue. It was of two gods she presumed. The goddess had her arms around the god with outstretched wings. They looked perfect for each other. The white stone shone more brilliantly than the other statues it even seemed for Kagome.

"Apollo and Daphne," Kagome ran her fingers over their names before continuing on with their story. "Daphne was Apollo's first love. It was Aphrodite's son that began their love. He had been in the forest, meddling with Apollo's arrows. After Apollo saw him the boy claimed that he was able to shot Apollo himself. He had two arrows, one made of gold that would ensue love and the other of lead that would repel love. The one of lead pierced Daphne, a nymph of the river god Peneus, and the gold arrow hit Apollo through his heart. Apollo would fall in love with Daphne, chasing her throughout the forest. The god loved her and she charmed him as he pursued her. He gained upon her as they fled and Daphne pleaded with her father to save her. As the words were spoken, she transformed into a tree. Apollo kissed her bark and promised her eternal youth as she would always be green. The nymph changed into a Laurel tree and bowed her head.

"Their story is a symbol of eternal love—to love from within, for what is truly beautiful." Kagome ended with a sigh.

The story had captivated both of them, yet it had told them nothing that would help them.

"The woman thought we were lovers that came to pray a statue that had a story meant for young lovers," Inuyasha laughed.

Kagome smiled to herself. "Well, let's see what's inside," she said with one last look at the two lovers that could never be.

Inuyasha however remained unmoving. Something caught his attention as he was scanning the plaque again. He took a step closer to where Kagome was standing. "What this?"

Kagome looked where he was pointing at. It was at the bottom of the plaque, etched in with a smaller print that she had overlooked.

"Everyday is a journey and the journey itself is home. The object that deceives the eye will reveal all the truths. Hexakosiai deka hex," Inuyasha stuttered. "616."

Kagome frowned, "We're looking for 666."

- $ -

What does that have to do with anything? Is it relevant? Or are we just messing with your heads? A review would be appreciated. Thanks for reading!


	20. Tortuous

The two stood almost dumbfounded at the statue

Fanfiction just gets stupider and stupider. A few years ago, we put cool scene breakers. And then they made us do dashes. Now, we can't even do dashes anymore, we have to use that ugly horizontal line for a scene breaker. They got rid of copy and paste in profile, you can't do certain punctuation such as quotation mark and parenthesis in the summaries, you can't be logged in for more than three days, the new formatting is messing everyone's stories up. I mean what's the point? It's kind of lame. And now I have to go and fix all the chapters in this story and the other one because we can't use dash or most of the symbols above the numbers on the keyboard, and also a lot of paragraphs are bunched together to where it's not even readable. Why do they even bother doing this? A warning would have been nice or not doing it at all. I'm sure many of you are annoyed at this as well. It's just soooo dumb and I'm not in the mood to write anymore.

* * *

**Tortuous**

_Adjective - Deceitfully indirect or morally crooked, as proceedings, methods, or policy; devious._

* * *

The two stood almost dumbfounded at the statue. 616. The number was swirling in the heads, but it ceased to make any sense to them at all.

"Yeah, you're right," Inuyasha started walking away, "This has nothing to do with the treasure."

The two of them made their way around the temple a few times. They had no idea where they should look, or even what they were looking for. It was hopeless. 666 was their only clue, but nothing at Sapphire Temple fit.

From the corner of his eyes, Inuyasha caught Miroku staring at the statue of Apollo and Daphne. It was the one labeled 616. He nudged Kagome, and both of them walked towards Miroku.

Miroku brushed his fingers over the etched print. The writing seemed like it was not originally there, for it was rough along his fingers. "Everyday is a journey and the journey itself is home. The object that deceives the eye will reveal all the truths. Hexakosiai deka hex," Miroku muttered to himself, confused.

Kagome stood silently behind Miroku, something wasn't right. She paced back and forth, wondering what could be wrong. Kagome recited the lines in her head. The words felt meaningless; she didn't understand them. If this was their next clue, then these words she would have to find out if she would ever find the treasure.

"You think this is it?" Inuyasha asked quietly, just enough for Kagome to hear.

She shrugged. "I don't get it. This seems like the only possibility because it actually has numbers carved, but it doesn't mean anything, does it? It ends with 616. All this time we were dealing with 666. This might be something to throw us off. Or it was just here by coincidence without any connection or relevance to the treasure we're looking for," Kagome's words spilt out of her. The insecurities she had, the worries that overcame her fell from her lips.

Stepping towards her, Inuyasha placed his arm around her waist and pulled her towards him. "We can figure this out. We haven't failed before. Just give everything time and it'll all find its way to us." His voice soothed Kagome. She knew he was right. All the other clues were hard and confusing, but they were able to always find the next one.

"Why don't we go inside? Make sure we didn't miss anything?" Inuyasha suggested and eased her forward. Just as they turned, Miroku turned around and realized that they were right behind him. Just then, Sango found the group and ran towards them.

"What are you three looking at? I couldn't find you guys." Sango mustered out, trying to swallow at the same time as she peered over Kagome's shoulder.

Miroku smiled at Sango as she got closer to him. He then turned towards the statue, "It's the Psyche and Cupid. The two lovers that would name their child Delight. There was this old legend…"

Before Miroku could finish talking, Kagome and Inuyasha stared at the statue and gasped. Inuyasha interrupted him. "You said Psyche and Cupid?" His tone was raised.

"Yes…" Miroku's voice trailed off as he saw how Kagome and Inuyasha were looking at each other with confused gazes. "Why would it not be Psyche and Cupid?"

Kagome pointed at the plaque silently. Half the clue made more sense now. From the second line of the poem, Kagome knew that the object that deceived the eye was the statue itself.

"Daphne and Apollo?" Sango asked aloud, seeing the plaque. Her eyes quickly skimmed the sentences about their story. "Why isn't this statue about Psyche and Cupid? Is the story correct and was there just a mistake in the names?"

By this time, Miroku had already read over the story. "No, this story corresponds with the story of Daphne and Apollo. Psyche was said to have possessed a beauty so great that no man on earth could ever have. She was locked away and Cupid would visit her during the nights. When she was pregnant with Cupid's child, Psyche was allowed to return to her sisters. I don't recall the story that well over the years now," Miroku scratched his head and furrowed his eyebrows. "My parents used to have a great collection of books and I read through so many. But in the end, Cupid and Psyche forgave each other for one reason or another," Miroku paused. "Why do we care so much again?"

Kagome and Inuyasha had both been listening intently to his story and when he asked that, they both jumped a little and shook their heads as if it didn't matter at all to either of them.

"Nothing, I was just curious—that's all. It seems odd that no one would have caught the mistake though," Kagome said trying to cover up why she wanted to learn more. "This temple is renowned on the entire island with so many visitors each day; you would think that someone would have caught the mistake."

She looked back at the statue. The people here worshiped these gods; they would have to know that this was not Daphne and Apollo, and instead was Psyche and Cupid.

Miroku sighed and handed Inuyasha some food he just bought. "Look, Apollo would never have wings this majestic. Apollo would most likely be carrying a bow and arrow. But the mistake is easily over seen because the statue is a representation of two lovers. Both pairs were lovers and unless someone was really educated about all the gods, which there are an endless amount here, they would never know the difference."

With a nod, Inuyasha finished off the food that Miroku had handed him earlier. "Well, now that we know the difference, I think we can go now. This place is nice and all, but the food is making me even more hungry."

"But I haven't even gone inside!" Miroku complained, eyeing the temple on top of the stairs, in the middle of the garden.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and patted his back, "We can always come here tomorrow, we'll be stuck on this island for a while."

Sighing, Miroku agreed and headed off first with Sango. Kagome and Inuyasha walked behind slowly. They stayed behind just enough to memorize the lines at the bottom of the plaque: Everyday is a journey and the journey itself is home. The object that deceives the eye will reveal all the truths. Hexakosiai deka hex.

"That's why the clue said that the truth deceives the eye," Kagome whispered so Inuyasha could hear her. "Now we just need to figure out why it's Hexakosiai deka hex, which is 616, instead of 666."

They fastened their pace to catch up with the other two.

"And also the first line of the poem. Where is this home? Pirates don't have homes." Kagome sighed.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that we need to find Daphne and Apollo first," Inuyasha said with a nice smirk upon his face and walked briskly out of the door.

After eating many varieties of seafood at a local restaurant, the four pirates walked around the island endlessly the rest of the day without a particular destination in mind. The sun set slowly below the horizon as a signal for them to find a night's resting place.

"I guess we should get back to the people we stayed at yesterday," Sango yawned, turning around.

"I wonder how the little girl is doing." Kagome knew that she owed the girl a lot because her necklace led them to Sapphire Temple. She wondered if there were any other clues hidden upon her.

They walked towards the sun, as it lowered gradually. Kagome shivered slightly and Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her. Miroku followed his example, stepped close to Sango, and did the same. Surprisingly, Sango did not complain.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Inuyasha asked, turning a full circle to get a look of the island.

"Isn't this the way we came from. We headed east this morning, so we're heading west now, right?" Sango bit her lips. How could they get their directions mixed up?

"I…don't remember." Inuyasha was too worried about finding the next clue than paying attention to direction. He looked at Kagome, who shook her head. "I wasn't looking at which way we went either," she closed her eyes.

The three of them now turned their heads intensely to Miroku. He took a step back. "Um…how am I supposed to know?"

Inuyasha let go of Kagome and walked up to him with a disappointed look upon his face. "Miroku, out of everyone here, you should know the best. You're my navigator, you do these things everyday. What do you mean how are you supposed to know? Of course you should know. Shouldn't this be second nature to you? I'm truly disappointed to be your captain right now. Haven't I taught you enough? So much for the best navigator of the seas you used to call yourself," he scoffed and inched away from him.

"Well," Miroku tried defending himself, "I haven't navigated in a while. It's your fault your crew threw you off the ship. You should actually thank me and Sango for coming after you and saving you."

"You haven't navigated for a few days," Inuyasha said between his teeth, "Don't give me that excuse. You know just as damn well as I do why the mutiny happened. When I get my hands on Kikyo…"

Before Inuyasha could finish, Kagome put a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down," she said softly. She then took Inuyasha's hand to lead him towards where the sun used to be. "Let's find our way back."

The sun already disappeared. It was all dark, except for the bright moon shining upon them. They hoped that Sango's sense of directions had been correct, or they would have to spend the night in the middle of a forest. As they walked further, the forest was getting denser and the light of the moon did not show through the thick trees.

"I think this is the wrong way…" Kagome finally broke the silence between the four.

"Yeah, I think I figured that out about an hour ago," Inuyasha stopped walking, "I guess we just have to sleep here for now."

"Finding the town in during the day shouldn't be too hard," Miroku set his bag down and slumped against a tree.

"This is all your fault," Inuyasha glared at Miroku, "If you had known which way we went, we wouldn't be in this situation right now."

"My fault?" Miroku rolled his eyes, "You're the captain, you should know about direction."

As the two argued, Kagome looked around, trying to find a place comfortable enough to sleep. As she kicked away the leaves and folded away the twigs from the bushes, Kagome gasped and looked up, "What's that?!"

* * *

That was anger writing right there, so sorry if the diction and style sucked. Anyway, it's probably not what you think. Actually, it's probably very far from it. Here's a hint: It's not living and it's not the treasure.


	21. Unity

God, I really don't know how to write this anymore. After four months of not touching this story, I think I have forgotten everything, just like that. You see, I could have written on vacation during my hours of free time, but instead, I chose not to. Ever have a sudden lost of interest in something you have done for years? Guess this is what's happening and it sucks. I had a whole outline for the last 6 chapters of the story and now as I sit here, the outline is somewhere in my mind, lost, and so I am now left with just my laptop and Microsoft Word.

My mind is truly blank. I apologize for any awkwardness in this chapter. Perhaps after writing again I will gain that enthusiasm I once had, and perhaps not. Thank you for those who are still reading Deception.

Last chapter: The statue of Psyche and Cupid was wrongly labeled Daphne and Apollo at the temple. "Every day is a journey and the journey itself is home" was the clue given to them as well as the number 616. Now the four have to figure out where this "home" is and if 616 has anything to do with the treasure. The last chapter ended with them spotting something just in the forest.

Keep in mind that Rolling Thunder is Kagome's grandpa's crew. Angels nor Demons is Inuyasha's crew, that is until Kikyo took over.

* * *

**Unity**

_Noun - oneness of mind, feeling, etc., as among a number of persons; concord, harmony, or agreement._

* * *

The sun's last rays upon the earth glowed on the mansion. Overgrown trees, stray weeds, and tall grassed surrounded the building. Statues of stone and bronze were littered the area—some broken with fragments on the ground around it.

The mansion seemed as if it stood once very majestic. Vines had crawled up the side of its stone walls and the large windows were musty with dust. The front wooden door rose about twelve feet high with a steel bar across it.

A large fountain was situated in the center of it all. It resembled the one that had told in the honor of Vestode H. Fealis with the wild flowers that grew around it and disparaging emotion that it provided without water spewing from it.

Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, and Miroku walked slowly down the large brick path that led up to the mansion. There were two tall steeples rose towards the sky. From the steeples, ragged flags were hung. They were old and discolored from the sun, yet they continued to wave slowly in the light breeze. The two flags were different. One was Rolling Thunder's flag and the other was Angels nor Demon's.

Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's hand and pointed with her other hand at the flags. "Look," she said barely above a whisper.

Miroku and Sango were right behind them. "That's our flag."

They stood in silence—not knowing what to make of their discovery. The mansion had their flags on them. Both of the ships were renowned across the seas, but why would their flags be hanging on the top of these steeples?

Inuyasha's memory began to swirl in his mind. He tried remembering all the stories that his mother had told him in the effort to get him to fall asleep.

A large castle seemed to always appear in these stories. The kids would play and run around in the castle, getting yelled at by the maids all the time. He could hear his mother's voice speaking of how the children were close friends. Two families had dwelled in the same mansion.

Kagome wrapped her arms around herself trying to keep warm as the wind picked up. Standing behind her, Inuyasha placed his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him. She leaded her head back, resting on his chest—hearing his heart beat slowly.

"I don't understand," Kagome muttered.

"Every day is a journey and the journey itself is home," Inuyasha repeated, his arm still around her, "is this that home?"

Kagome smiled, "We'd have to be really lucky to find home just like that."

"I guess you're right."

She felt his warmth travel through her as he pulled her in even closer, hugging her tighter. She closed her eyes and time seemed to go on without them.

"Would you like to walk around?" Inuyasha suggested.

She nodded slightly even though she wanted to stand where they were for forever. He let her go slowly and reached for her hand. She wrapped her fingers around his and they walked towards the main path.

* * *

Kikyo slammed a stack of maps down onto the golden desk that had once belonged to Inuyasha. "How the hell would you not know their location? You're on this ship for a reason, now if you don't find out where Inuyasha is by tomorrow, I'm going to have you planked, got it?"

"I-I-I'm sorry," the pirate stuttered, "I will try again."

"Good."

Rubbing her temples, Kikyo fell onto the bed. They had been searching for days, and there was still no sign of Inuyasha. How was she supposed to find the treasure? She had no clue what any of the clues meant or what it even lead to. Her crew was starting to get restless, they were hungry and tired, but she kept hammering them down with tasks.

"Naraku, I will avenge you. I will kill Kagome and find the treasure."

Inside the mansion lay countless spider webs, dusty furniture, and creaky wooden floors. Lines of pictures hung on every wall, some were portraits and others were oil paintings, but they were all unrecognizable. The four continued their way down the hall, not knowing where they were or why they were here.

Kagome shivered as she felt a cold breeze pass her body. At the end of the hall was a single door, painted red. Inuyasha pushed slowly and little by little, it opened. In front of them was vast room. There was not a single piece of furniture on the floor.

"I guess this is the ballroom," Inuyasha whispered and led Kagome inside. Sango and Miroku followed.

The ballroom had four doors, two of which were red and the other two yellow.

"What now?" Miroku sighed as he stepped into the middle of the ballroom and looked around, "I think we should forget about this place. It creeps me out. Who could have lived here and 

abandoned it just like that? And why was our Angels nor Demons flag hanging outside, did we conquer it in the past or something?"

"I don't know," Inuyasha walked up to the single picture frame hanging on the wall, "maybe my parents did, or maybe my grandparents, or…I don't know." He touched portrait with his right hand, gently swiping away the dust. "Why does this look so familiar?"

Kagome let go of his hand and walked towards the other side of the room, inspecting the different colored doors. "Do you think that we have something to do with this place? After all, Rolling Thunder's flag is here as well."

"Let's keep walking then, shall we?" Sango spoke up. She eyed Miroku for approval and he lightly nodded. "Let's go through here."

* * *

The four had been walking through the corridor for hours, not finding anything of interest. As they walked down the hall, the scenery began to change. Instead of paintings aligning the wall, there were now statues, hundreds of them, lined down the hallway. Occasionally there would be a portrait or two between the statues, to where it was almost invisible to the eye.

As the corridor was coming to a close, Kagome gasped. She touched the portrait that stood in front of her. It had the words "traitor" written over it in bold letters. Looking past the messy words, there was of a man, a woman, and a little boy. The man and woman were about thirty years of age and the boy about ten. They were all smiling to each other, consumed in their own world.

"What's wrong?" Inuyasha walked up behind her, tugging at her arm.

"I…" Kagome was lost of words, "this…this is my grandpa…"

* * *

"Land ho!"

Kikyo leaned against the flagpole as she watched her pirates dock her ship. Because they were low on supplies, she had ordered them to restock at the nearest island, Sapphire Island. As she looked to the shores, she could see the eyes of fearful men, women, and children watching them. They were frozen in their spots, not knowing what to do.

"I would raid their town, but I'm in a hurry," Kikyo said to herself. How she wanted to show off her strength, her power. How she wanted the people to cower in fear and bow down to her, but she had a treasure to find and was running out of time.

Kikyo walked to the front of the ship and stood before the people. "We are not here to harm! If you obey us, we will leave right away! Right now I supplies! Give me all you've got! Give me everything!

It took a couple of seconds for the people to understand what she had said, but after they did, there was a scrambling of feet as everyone ran to follow Kikyo's orders.

"Good." She nodded in approval and turned to the rest of the crew, "Help them out but don't give them anything in return. We're getting out of here as soon as possible. In the meanwhile, Corey, come here!"

"Yes captain!"

She whispered into his ears, "I want more information about Inuyasha or you're going into the water headfirst tomorrow morning."

He nodded frantically.

* * *

"What?" Inuyasha blinked.

"This is my grandpa," Kagome repeated.

Sango and Miroku walked forward to exam the portrait hanging on the wall

"But he's so young, how can you remember him?"

"Well, his features are about the same. When I was young, my grandpa used to draw pictures; he drew my grandma, my dad, and my mom. He was truly gifted." She looked at the woman in the picture, "This must be my grandma and this must be my dad…"

The others stood in disbelieve, wondering why a portrait of Kagome's family could be in the abandoned mansion, with the word 'traitor' written over it.

I'm really surprised, but I'm sure it's them. Even if I was only eight when my grandpa died, I remember his sketches very well. He drew many of them, sometimes a few every day. We would sit there, looking into the ocean, and he would begin to draw. This has to be them." Kagome sighed as she remembered the painful memories of the day Ghost of the Seven Seas attacked their ship and killed her grandpa. She tried to suppress the tears, but her eyes began to water.

Inuyasha, feeling her pain, stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head. "It's okay," he whispered.

"I…" She let a single tear slip down her face, "think I understand now."

"What?"

"Don't you see Inuyasha? This place belongs to our ancestors, our grandparents used to live here. Why else would there be flags, our flags, hanging outside of this mansion?"

"I see your point but why would our grandparents live here, why two families? And why would they have abandoned all of this for the life of a pirate?"

"I don't know. It's starting to make sense though. I remember my grandpa telling me stories about how we were once rich and owned a permanent place to live. He said it was so big that I can have many rooms to myself and he promised to take me back there one day."

"My parents told me that after seeking the treasure, they would bring me to a place where I can run around and play freely every day."

"Why didn't I realize this before? I was trying to forget a lot of bad memories in the past that I managed to overlook this. "Every day is a journey and the journey itself is home." This is it Inuyasha, this is home."

* * *

Well, I think Sango and Miroku have a lot of catching up to do. Plus, they still need to find the treasure and Kikyo needs to appear some way or another to ruin everything, right? Once again, I apologize for the time it took me to write this chapter.


End file.
